Farizi: VMRO-DPMNE achieved a historic victory, opposition lost despite diaspora support

Political analyst Lulzim Farizi assessed that the ruling Macedonian parties – the VMRO-DPMNE coalition, the VLEN coalition, and the political party Znam – should be satisfied with the results of the second round of local elections, as they won more than 90 percent of municipalities.

He stated that the ruling parties achieved a convincing victory in the second round, while the opposition suffered a heavy defeat despite its efforts to mobilize voters from the diaspora.

Farizi emphasized that VMRO-DPMNE achieved a historic result, while the Albanian bloc led by DUI suffered a “catastrophic defeat” and lost the trust of voters.

“The political parties that are part of the government – the VMRO-DPMNE coalition, the VLEN coalition, and the political party Znam – should generally be satisfied, especially VMRO-DPMNE and VLEN, since they won the majority of municipalities, more than 90 percent in the Republic of Macedonia. The only political party that may not be fully satisfied is the political party Znam, which had candidates in only two municipalities, Kumanovo and the Centar municipality in Skopje, and managed to win only Kumanovo,” Farizi said.

He added that “unnatural coalitions had caused problems in the past,” especially the one between VMRO-DPMNE and Znam, and that citizens “rejected the candidacy in the Centar municipality.”

“At the national level, VMRO-DPMNE has achieved a convincing victory that has not happened in Macedonia’s history since 1991. From today, the only thing political parties need to do is to work both at the municipal level, in local government, and at the central level, because that is what they promised the citizens and must now deliver,” the analyst emphasized.

Commenting on the course of the second round of elections, Farizi said there were several surprises.

“In the second round, there were two major surprises, perhaps even three, particularly in municipalities that were highly competitive – Kicevo, Brvenica, and Struga. Considering that opposition parties from the Albanian bloc brought in voters from abroad, effectively mobilizing the entire diaspora as much as they could, in the end they still lost in all three municipalities,” Farizi explained.

“In Kicevo and Brvenica, the VMRO-DPMNE mayoral candidates won. In Struga, the winner was an independent candidate (initiated and supported by VMRO-DPMNE). I can only add that this practice of importing people in such a manner, with the goal of dividing the nation, did not succeed, and I think that opposition parties should come to their senses and view the state through the lens of democracy and good interethnic relations, particularly between Macedonians and Albanians,” Farizi added.

Speaking about the results of the parties from the Albanian bloc, he noted that the competition was extremely strong, but also paradoxical.

“There was tremendous competition, but also a paradox within the Albanian bloc, between the VLEN coalition and the National Alliance led by DUI and other political parties. Since they pursued a policy of presenting this as a huge referendum and misled citizens by claiming there would be elections in March next year, when they suffered a catastrophic defeat, DUI leaders did not even appear in public and no longer mention that referendum,” Farizi said.