VMRO-DPMNE turns toward boycott

Day after day, one member after the other, VMRO-DPMNE clearly is turning to a boycott of the referendum instead of the publicly expressed position for an individual decision. Official campaign does not lead, but officials (former and current), members of the Executive Committee, MPs and members of the party openly say that they will not vote on Sunday.

“I will not come out and vote for the abolition of our history, our culture, our identity. I will not vote, so my ancestors won’t turn in their graves. I will not go out to vote so that my children and their future descendants, but also your children and their future generations, are not erased, and leave them as trees without roots. I will not go out to vote, because we are not voting for NATO nor European Macedonia as they lie in public, but we will vote for North Macedonia, for the creation of a new, artificial nation, for the destruction of the Macedonian people and for nothing else. I will not go out to vote, in order not to give legitimacy of the high treason and lies of Zoran Zaev and the rest of the domestic enemies of Macedonia. I will not be an accomplice in this most culpable and cowardly act that they do against Macedonia,” said Dimitar Dimovski, a member of the Executive Board of VMRO-DPMNE in a column for “Kurir”.

The party’s Vice President Aleksandar Nikoloski in yesterday’s column for Nezavisen vesnik/Independent newspaper wrote that we were facing the end of the campaign for the referendum on which Macedonian citizens should decide whether they are in favour of renaming themselves and the country, or they would reject it.

“In the overall communication in the past period, it is clear that, on the one hand, the citizens, above all the Macedonian people are strongly opposed to the agreement. They oppose it and do not agree to rename themselves and the state. On the other hand, it is clear that Zoran Zaev and SDSM’s attempt to manipulate, who at all costs try to make the referendum successful in order to clear their conscience and to say that it was the people who decided to rename the state and disfigure it. Such a humiliation to your own people! They force them to do something that no other free nation would ever think of, let alone do,” Nikoloski pointed out.

VMRO-DPMNE says that there is nothing disputable about their views. They are absolutely against the agreement with Greece, which they consider to be harmful and capitulative, and claim that if the issue of the referendum would only concern the name settlement, they would publicly oppose and thus conduct the campaign.

“But taking into account that the government made a whole mess with the question as well, and  merged it with EU and NATO membership knowing that there’s almost no one in the country that is against the EU integration, we can not call on voting ‘against’. As a democratic party, we leave each of the citizens alone to decide whether and how to vote. However, we are convinced that the ‘against’ voters and those who will boycott, will be much more than those who support the referendum,” VMRO-DPMNE said.

In the party members from the “White palace” consider that besides the supporters of the agreement, all the rest are on their side. They announce that their members will be on the day of voting and any eventual move and desire to forge the will of the citizens or to set the process itself will be met with strong and massive resistance by the people.

“On September 30th, each of you will make a decision that you feel in your heart. We will respect each and every decision. I am sure that we will succeed in defending Macedonia, that it will be a historic day, the day when the Macedonian people rose against all humiliation. That’s why the slogan that appeared in the past few days is wonderful – Never North, always Macedonia!”, said Nikoloski.

So far, MP Antonio Milososki, former Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanovski, Chairman of the Political System Commission Tanja Karakamiseva, and many others, have publicly supported the boycott. The second vice-president of the party, Mitko Jancev and former Minister Nikola Todorov, opposed the agreement. Because of their views, they are exposed to daily criticism and insults from the disappointed right-wing. Half of the parliamentary group said they would not support constitutional revisions to ratify the Mala Prespa agreement.

Goran Adamovski