A massive success
Author’s note: I wrote this on May 9 and it is already dated! But I’ve got a lot more to say in the coming days.
The presidential and parliamentary elections in Macedonia are over. Now, the difficult part of forming a government comes next, followed by the even more difficult part of governing. But even before we get there, we have obstacles to face, and difficulties to overcome. More, in a moment.
By the time you read this you will already know that VMRO-DPMNE achieved a massive success winning 58 seats in parliament. Their chosen candidate for president, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, won the presidency in another massive win, with 65 percent of the vote, compared to outgoing president Stevo Pendarovski, who achieved a mere 29 percent. Siljanovska-Davkova now becomes Macedonia’s first woman to serve as president. The other major event in these elections was the relegation of Macedonia’s leftist party, SDSM to third place behind their former masters, Ali Ahmeti’s DUI and his coalition of several other parties. SDSM will have 18 seats in parliament, compared to DUI’s 19.
The process of forming a government – perhaps by the end of May according to VMRO leader Hristijan Mickoski – is now underway. VMRO will likely pair up with ZNAM, led by Kumanovo mayor Maxim Dimitrievski, which gained six seats in parliament. This will enable Mickoski to offer the Albanian opposition parties, VLEN, an opportunity to form a government with them, bringing in their 13 seats. The big difference now, as opposed to the SDSM/DUI government, is that VLEN will have a much more difficult time blackmailing the Macedonian parties of VMRO and ZNAM as together, they will have 64 seats. In other words, the ethnic Albanian parties will have far less influence in Macedonian affairs – especially when it comes to important issues like the Macedonian identity and all that that encompasses – issues that, in the outgoing SDSM/DUI government were given directly to DUI to trample on.
And this brings me back to the “difficulties to overcome” noted above.
The votes were still being counted on Wednesday, May 8, when media, talking heads, and others on social media started their smear campaign against VMRO and Siljanovska-Davkova. If you Google news of Macedonia you will likely read headlines like this one from the leftwing Financial Times: “Macedonia’s rightwing party sweeps to power in setback for EU talks.” Though of course the “N” word preceded “Macedonia.” The mainstream media that reports on Macedonia – Reuters, AP, AFP, DW, the BBC, The Washington Post, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and many more like them – have all begun their attempt to hobble the new government and president even before they take power.
These media outlets – and various other talking heads, pundits, politicians, bureaucrats, etc. – will all now paint the new government and president as “pro-Russian,” “anti-EU,” “nationalist,” “authoritarian,” and more. They will paint the newly minted opposition of SDSM and DUI as “pro-European” and the ones who moved Macedonia closer to the EU, while completely ignoring the rampant crime and corruption. They will paint the various demands of Greece and Bulgaria against Macedonia as being Macedonian issues that Macedonia created instead of the other way around, which is the truth. They will use misinformation, half-truths, and blatant lies, to paint an increasingly negative picture of the new government and new president. One small example from their toolkit: here is a line from the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty article on the elections: “After ruling for the past seven years, analysts said that Pendarovski's Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) was punished by voters for its perceived failure to tackle corruption and economic woes but also for its support of a constitutional amendment demanded by EU member Bulgaria.”
No, SDSM was not punished by voters for their perceived failure to tackle corruption, they were punished by voters because of their actual failure to tackle corruption. That, and, their multiplication of corruption by orders of magnitude.
The reason for distortions like these is old: these media outlets, their writers, the various talking heads, pundits, politicians, bureaucrats, etc. who, right now, are going after the new government and president, are from the left side of politics. They are “citizens of the world,” as Barak Obama calls himself, progressives, socialists, old-fashioned Communists, and more. They are smug and look down on the Macedonians who have just made their own democratic choices. They believe the Macedonians who voted in the new government and president are (chose your noun), peasants, bitter-clingers, backwards knuckle-dragging misanthropes, troglodytes, and more. They believe you are stupid, and that they alone have all the correct answers. And they are rooting for you to fail so that the failed SDSM and DUI can return.
Don’t let this discourage you. These people will always be around, and they will always try to tear you down because, the truth is, they have very little to live for themselves. As ephemeral citizens of the world, they have no roots, no identity, no (or very few) children to pass on what little they do believe in, and no hope in the future, because their future lacks anything worth fighting and living for other than themselves which is ultimately an empty worldview.
Macedonians have voted for a major change in the direction of the country, one that includes bringing a little bit of pride back to Macedonia, and the Macedonians, as well as one that involves alternatives because yes, those who say “there is no alternative” (the outgoing government) merely want you to shut up and obey them. The new government also has an economic plan that, if properly implemented and carried out, should create jobs, prosperity, while strengthening the rule of law and the individual rights of all of Macedonia’s citizens. And the new government, and president, are indeed pro-European and pro-Western, no matter how many outsiders say otherwise.
They deserve an opportunity to carry out their plans without the nagging and lies of these international blowhards. I doubt the nagging and lies will cease, but the best way for the new government and president to prove them wrong will be in their massive success.