The Macedonian opposition party, VMRO DPMNE, at the March 2 party convention in Skopje, has promoted Gordana Siljanovska Davkova as its candidate for the presidential elections on April 24 in North Macedonia.

Siljanovska-Davkova is the current MP of VMRO DPMNE, writes REL (Radio Free Europe).

She was a candidate for president of this party in the 2019 elections, but was defeated by the current president, Stevo Pendarovski.

In the speech given to her supporters, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova said that this time she will be the winner of the race for the head of state and called for “unity in achieving national and state interests”.

“You can change everything, the style, many things, but never the homeland. It is not by chance that we were born in [North] Macedonia, the energy originates from here, and therefore we must establish the strongest possible ties with those who left, not because they wanted to, but because someone did not want them as the best. Only in this way will we ensure respect everywhere in the world. We have a lot of work ahead of us and I, of all those who will be the bearers of any position, ask them to put an end to the terrible divisions on any basis, mainly on party and political grounds”, said Siljanovska-Davkova.

The chairman of VMRO DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski asked the members of the party, but also all the citizens, to go to the presidential and parliamentary elections to “vote for the big change”.

This change, according to him, is achieved if VMRO DPMNE in the elections manages to get half of the deputies’ mandates, or 61 of the 120 that the Assembly of North Macedonia has.

The presidential elections in North Macedonia will be held in two rounds, the first on April 24, while the second round will be held together with the parliamentary elections, on May 8.

“These are elections for [North] Macedonia. For a Macedonia where the laws apply, in which there are no first and second class citizens. I hope that the citizens will make the right choice… On May 8, we know that this people will say enough, enough of the thefts, the non-existence of a system, enough of the underestimation”, declared Mickoski.

On the other hand, the SDSM, on Sunday, March 3, at the party convention, will approve the candidacy for the second term of the current president, Stevo Pendarovski.

According to the data of the State Election Commission (SEC) so far, out of 11 candidates for president, five of them have already collected the necessary 10,000 votes, thus formalizing their candidacies for the election race on April 24.

Among them are the two Albanian candidates, Bujar Osmani from the Democratic Union for Integration and Arben Taravari from the United Albanian Opposition.

On Saturday evening, the Albanian opposition candidate, Arben Taravari, was officially promoted in Gostivar in the presence of the leaders of the four parties that make up the “VLEN” coalition.

Bekim Qoku, adviser to the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, was also present at the convention.

Vetëvendosja supports the Albanian opposition and its members from North Macedonia are expected to be on the lists for deputies in the Assembly of North Macedonia.