Samka Ibraimovski, longtime Roma leader, dies
Founder and long-time president of the Party for Full Emancipation of Roma; former MP and minister without portfolio.
Samka Ibraimovski, a longtime leader of the Roma community in North Macedonia and founder of the Party for Full Emancipation of Roma (PCER), has died. He served as a member of Parliament and held the post of minister without portfolio during his political career.
Public service and focus on Roma inclusion
Ibraimovski dedicated decades to political and civic work aimed at improving the status and institutional representation of Roma in the country. He was born on September 27, 1954, in Tetovo.
Earlier in his career he was deputy minister for Labour and Social Policy from 2004 to 2006. From 2008 to 2011 he headed the Reception Centre for Asylum Seekers in Skopje, and he served as a member of the Assembly from 2011 to 2015, participating in several parliamentary committees.
On 31 May 2017 he was appointed minister without portfolio, responsible for implementing the National Strategy for Improving the Situation of Roma. He remained in that post until December 2017, when he left the government and returned to Parliament.
Ibraimovski was the founder and long-time president of the Party for Full Emancipation of Roma, using the party as his main platform to advocate for Roma rights and greater participation in public life. His death is being mourned across community and political circles.
Photo: press material from the event
