1 The most interesting part in the televised leadership duel between Dimitar Kovachevski and Hristijan Mickoski occurred when the lottery girl Marjana Stanojkovska appeared on screen. The political duel was paused for a lottery draw. At least someone experienced a stroke of luck that evening. Since watching what the leaders of SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE had to say was a confrontation with our harsh reality. That’s why the short break with Marjana was a breath of fresh air. Wishing everyone good luck.

I was expecting a bit more drama when Mickoski provoked Kovachevski by saying: “Please don’t get upset!” That’s what he was advised to do, but this time it was in vain. Surprisingly, Kovachevski didn’t get upset. Or at least, he didn’t show he was upset the way we’re accustomed to seeing him. So, even that hint of excitement was gone. I’m sure that after Marjana finished spreading joy, most people changed the channel.

All in all, the duel fell flat. There’s joy in the lottery balls. Joy in the political offer – not that much.

Kovachevski doesn’t need to be that dramatic when he says that “these elections are a choice between hope and hopelessness.” We survived the period when VMRO-DPMNE had 63 MPs in 2008. We survived the period when SDSM had 87 MPs in 1994. Our people didn’t perish. Our politicians got rich though. This ongoing fight, like all the previous ones, is a fight over who’ll keep getting rich. And over who’ll be shielded by parliamentary immunity.

2 The ruling SDSM found it fitting to start apologising ahead of the elections. They’re saying: “We’ll treat our mistakes as lessons, and they don’t mean we’ll give up on our goals.”

Well, well, well! And what should we tell the children who lost seven years of their lives? Here they are, they’re now adults and will vote, no longer the little children we used to take with us on the streets “every day at six.” We used to tell them “there’ll be justice and there’ll be peace.” Meanwhile, VMRO, abusing the ministries it controlled, kept a close watch on our children on their way to school, and tapped our phone conversations with them.

Now, they admit they were wrong, and when we raised those issues, they labelled us enemies, vmro scum, neutrals, whiners, they made up rumours about us, they made up affairs against us… They used to say: You’ll bring back VMRO. Although we were pointing out what they were doing wrong precisely because of the fear they’d bring VMRO back. We’d be the greatest fools in the world if we wanted “this evil to happen again.” There was still time back then to fix their mistakes.

But now, after seven years, they’ve finally realised that threatening to bring back VMRO every day was a bad idea. They’re trying to convince us: Wouldn’t it be better for us to stay? So that we might give them a chance to continue making mistakes. And a chance to bully us when we tell them they’re wrong.

It’s better than nothing, at least these guys from SDSM, seeking votes, have decided to apologise. VMRO-DPMNE has no intention of apologising. They inflicted so much harm on our society during the Nikola Gruevski’s 11-year rule that it still hurts. We still feel their mistakes and the consequences. Some wounds from that time are so deep that they simply don’t heal.

It’s one thing they don’t apologise for Gruevski, you could argue he fled a long time ago, people tend to have short memories. But it’s another that they refuse to apologise for deceiving the citizens of Skopje by presenting Danela Arsovska as an independent and competent candidate. The sound of zurlas and drums from the celebration in front of the White Palace are still fresh, she’s still destroying the capital, thanks to their support for “modern Skopje,” yet they have the audacity to offer us new Danelas.

3 Every time there are elections, I have a dilemma about what to write, what to record, in case someone gets angry, in case someone feels favoured… It’s not nice to take sides. But it’s also not nice to keep silent about some things.

I simply can’t remain indifferent when I see advertisements promoting Stevcho Jakimovski – the only one of the seven presidential candidates who’s on the United States’ blacklist. So, this guy, who’s on the blacklist, is portrayed as “a good statesman with future generations in mind.” And, in his platform he tells us he’ll build a hospital for the needs of the military according to NATO standards.

We already have a hospital according to NATO standards in the middle of his municipality of Karposh. I’m talking about the “8 September” Hospital, which the citizens of Skopje still refer to as the Military Hospital. That hospital still houses the Military Medical Centre and the logistics of the Ministry of Defence related to NATO.

Forgive me if I seem biased, as strong emotions connect me to both Karposh and the Military Hospital. However, access to that hospital and to the entire district where the city’s ambulance service and the “Bucharest” Polyclinic are located will be limited very soon, both in terms of cars and rescue helicopters, precisely because Jakimovski allowed the construction of a 17-story building along with a shopping mall during his mandate as mayor. Although the American State Department has insight that this statesman was involved in corrupt acts in urban planning, he’s promising to build a hospital according to NATO standards after he himself will destroy a medical complex and an existing hospital built by the JNA, which must have know what NATO standards are. And to add insult to injury, the renovation of the Emergency Centre of that hospital in 2014 was funded by a donation from the American military, and “8 September” has been designated as the primary response unit for NATO forces in Kosovo.

Stevche claims that “a good politician has the next elections in mind, and a good statesman has the future generations in mind.” And the thing a good mayor has in mind is the profit of constructors. He doesn’t give a damn about the citizens. The citizens are here to deliver votes. If you want to know what investors deliver, you should ask in America.

You could also ask the central government. They’re acting clueless for this case too. Because both SDSM and DUI care more about the interests of the so-called investors than the interests of citizens. While they apologise to us, they continue to please them. They’ve turned out country into an inhumane place to live, out of greed. Since investors are more important to them than ordinary taxpayers, then perhaps they should seek votes from them instead.

Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski