Dafina Stojanoska: Vlen acted as a "Trojan horse" for DUI in Brvenica

Dafina Stojanoska, MP and member of VMRO-DPMNE's executive committee, accused Vlen on Sunday of effectively acting as a “Trojan horse” for the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) in the municipality of Brvenica after the second round of local elections.

Stojanoska: Vlen sided with NAI in second round

Stojanoska said VMRO-DPMNE and the coalition "Your Macedonia" supported their candidate, Stojancho Radichevski, in the first round, while Vlen ran its own contender. She added that in the second round Vlen shifted its support to the candidate of the National Alliance for Integration (NAI), undermining the opposition’s chances.

Speaking during an appearance on Sitel television's central news bulletin, Stojanoska argued that Vlen had missed an opportunity to distinguish itself from DUI and instead helped split votes. She said: "Look, I don't believe Vlen is a major factor in the Municipality of Brvenica — the first round results showed that. In any case, we worked separately in these elections: our party together with the coalition 'Your Macedonia' stood behind our candidate Stojancho Radichevski, while Vlen in the first round worked for their candidate, and in the second round decided to join the candidate of NAI."

Stojanoska criticised Vlen alongside other parties she said played into DUI's hands. "We regret that Vlen did not use this chance to show that they are different from DUI, but, like SDSM and Levica, I think they played the role of a Trojan horse and played for DUI, that is, they scattered votes from the voter pool," she said.

On the broader political picture, Stojanoska dismissed the Brvenica vote as a test of the governing coalition. She said the results instead reflect the implementation of the government's programme, which she believes is proceeding as planned. She also argued that SDSM had become marginal after the local elections and blamed the party leadership under Venko Filipche for its poor performance. "Thus, SDSM became, I would say, a marginal party after these local elections, especially because of its catastrophic leadership under Venko Filipche. And I believe that the Venko supporters might now even be cheering or rooting for their partner DUI to win, which in turn proves that whenever we mention DUI and SDSM, we must be aware that they are two different sides of the same coin," she said.

Photo: press material from the event