[ad_1]
After announcing the results, Phillips said it was not time to celebrate yet, but now was time to work.
“There is no time to celebrate. What follows, as my program promises, will be a period of restructuring and reform, and I am certain that the SDSM will win again. It will be neither quick nor easy, but there is no other way to regain the trust of the membership than to make real, fundamental change. We cannot pretend change, and they cannot be half-hearted. I will not divide, but unite. I will strongly oppose those who seek to weaken the party for their own personal gain,” Phillips said.
He promised to make every effort to live up to the trust of the members and do the work as promised and committed.
“For me, this victory represents a great responsibility towards the members of SDSM, towards all our citizens and towards our country. Tonight at SDSM, empathy, professionalism, care for people won my heart, the fundamental values according to which SDSM will work. My goal is to infuse the principles that guide my personal and professional life, principles of solidarity, friendship, mutual respect and open communication, which will make SDSM excel under my leadership,” Filipche stressed in his speech.
He said that as chairman he would not divide but unite, lead by example and strongly oppose those who would weaken the party at the expense of their personal interests, and that SDSM would be a down-to-earth, open and modern party ready to face new challenges. Challenges that are coming.
“Many want to see the SDSM on its knees and defeated. They hope that the party will not survive and are tired of electoral defeats. I promise that we will restore the dignity of the party and I tell those who have hopes for a bad future – they will be deeply disappointed. I promise that we will be a strong opposition, we will do everything in our power to stop the bad policies of the government and we will make corrections in society. The SDSM has been and will be the voice of reason when the will of the citizens is violated or the country is damaged. The SDSM has always chosen the side of progress, democracy, nationhood and European values, so we must continue on this path and we must fight for the citizens to recognize this about us, because it will mean victory for the SDSM,” said Filipche.
After the results were announced, two other candidates, Jovan Despotovsky and Alexander Bydevsky, addressed members and the public.
Despotovsky said he was happy about Filipce’s election but unhappy with SDSM.
“The SDSM is a big liberal party. We cannot talk about an elected president of a party when ten thousand members did not vote, and we have an elected president with nine thousand votes. I thank everyone who voted, but I also thank those who came out but were not allowed to vote, and there were a lot of them. I don’t think we should talk about the election being over until we answer two questions from our party. Why those ten thousand members were not allowed to vote and why those who left were sent back in. I don’t comment on the results. As a friend, I am happy for Venko, but unhappy for the SDSM. Even tonight, the building is empty and that should worry us,” said Despotovsky.
Despotovsky announced that he will file an objection tomorrow due to observed election irregularities.
Baidevsky said that after the party elections, the SDSM should start “its work”, namely VMRO-DPMNE and the establishment of the party’s government. He noted that it would be better if the interrupted congress could be held before the SDSM presidential election.
“It would be great if there was a congress to determine the reasons for the loss on May 8th. I think they should address some issues, such as our membership list, which I think is one of the reasons for low turnout in these elections. But I believe in the SDSM and I will be here to continue to promote the values that I have been promoting for the past 20 days,” Bajdevski said.
Slavjanka Petrovska also announced the news on her Facebook profile.
Petrovska wrote: “We fought against the occupied country, and we won the occupied side!”
Earlier, Victoria Avramovska Matic, chairperson of the SDSM Central Election Commission, announced the election results and promoted Filipce as the new president of the SDSM.
“Tonight the SDSM has a new president. In a fair and democratic party election process, the Social Democrats elected Dr. Venko Filipche as SDSM president. After voting closed at 8:00 PM, preliminary results were delivered to 77 polling stations, which is 95% complete. Of these, Filipce received 9,052 votes, Aleksandar Baideski received 905 votes, Jovan Despotovski received 2,705 votes, and Slavjanska Petrovska received 190 votes. 174 votes were invalid and we will announce the final results within 48 hours after the deadline for objections and appeals expires.”
She thanked the Central Electoral Commission, all the members of the municipal elections and all those who worked for the process, which, as she said, was legal, democratic and passed in a fair and democratic atmosphere.
[ad_2]
Source link
