Platform "12:05" delivers proposal to SDSM seeking Venko Filipche's removal and reforms
Former party officials delivered a document to the SDSM archive proposing Filipche's ouster and party reforms, prompting denials and accusations.
Former SDSM officials behind the Platform "12:05" have submitted a written proposal to party president Venko Filipche calling for his removal and for structural changes inside the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM).
The document was handed in to the party archive known as "Bihachka" by Igor Ivanovski, Slavjanka Petrovska and Kosta Nachevski. The platform's initiators say their suggestions are aimed at securing the party's future, returning decision-making to the membership and responding to what they describe as current party hysteria with concrete action.
Reactions and counterclaims
The SDSM leadership, however, has accused the Platform of being the work of the party ZNAM and said the document had been marked confidential — while its contents were published in the media before the party had the chance to review it fully.
In a critical internal response SDSM representatives said: "We would be ashamed to have written this since December, with all the promises. So for them it was better to keep it confidential, so others would not see it. There is no need for it to be confidential. Unlike them, with us everything is transparent. Let the citizens read. In that other part, by style, you will recognize Ivona Talevska. It has nothing to do with it. A letter is a letter. Or is it a programme? Since December they have been broadcasting on television the story about some new platform, that they are solving problems."
The dispute has escalated beyond the proposed organisational changes. Venko Filipche publicly accused MP and one of the signatories, Slavjanka Petrovska, of a controversial tanks procurement valued at around c37 million. The opposition party VMRO-DPMNE also urged Filipche to present evidence to the public prosecutor regarding the allegations.
The Platform's authors insist their move is constructive and meant to open debate inside SDSM. The leadership sees it as an external political manoeuvre; for now both sides remain at odds while the party grapples with how to handle the leaked document and the rival public accusations.
Photo: press material from the event
