Ahead of the local elections, SDSM faces divisions in two must-win municipalities
The SDSM party faces a rift in one of the few significant municipalities it was hoping to win in the coming local elections, after it snubbed incumbent Mayor of Strumica Kostadin Kostadinov. SDSM leader Venko Filipce today announced 11 new mayoral candidates, an in Strumica he is nominating the head of the local SDSM branch […] The post Ahead of the local elections, SDSM faces divisions in two must-win municipalities appeared first on Republika English.
The SDSM party faces a rift in one of the few significant municipalities it was hoping to win in the coming local elections, after it snubbed incumbent Mayor of Strumica Kostadin Kostadinov.
SDSM leader Venko Filipce today announced 11 new mayoral candidates, an in Strumica he is nominating the head of the local SDSM branch Marjan Daskalovski.
Kostadinov immediately responded with a social media comment announcing tha he i suspending his activity in SDSM as long as the current leadership of the party is in place. Kostadinov added that he will not run in the coming elections, but his lack of support for SDSM can only divide the party’s vote in this must-win city for the opposition party.
Both Kostadinov and Filipce are seen as very close to former party leader Zoran Zaev, who ruled Strumica for almost two decades, building a major business and corruption based empire. In the past few years, as a rare Mayor of a major city from SDSM, Kostadinov was not active in national politics, but would take positions that are at odds with the urban party leadership – particularly supporting several pro-family initiatives that were criticized in Skopje SDSM circles. Earlier this week he lashed out at well known journalist Dragan Pavlovic – Latas, issuing a public threat aimed at his life and safety, that sounded like a mafia warning, after Latas mentioned Kostadinov’s father and his alleged corruption.
SDSM is facing division in another of the few municipalities where they are hoping to be able to counter VMRO-DPMNE. Former Mayor of Skopje’s Centar municipality Sasa Bogdanovic said that he was sidelined from politics by Zaev after his first term in office. In 2021, Zaev nominated Goran Gerasimovski as Mayor and he narrowly won the race, but with the renewed criticism from Bogdanovic, SDSM could face divisions in this municipality as well.
The post Ahead of the local elections, SDSM faces divisions in two must-win municipalities appeared first on Republika English.
