Brvenica will elect a mayor on 18 October, following the death of the incumbent Jovica Ilievski. And before the campaign has even started, the race is already showing what every local election in Polog shows - the partners in power do not walk together on the ground.

Three candidates, two coalitions in the same government

VMRO-DPMNE unanimously chose Stojanco Radicevski at a session of its Executive Committee. He is the current head of the party's Municipal Committee in Brvenica, a law graduate with a master's degree in civil law. The party says it expects "the uniting of all progressive forces" and support for a solution it believes means progress for the municipality.

The VLEN coalition was first out with its candidate - Jakup Huseini, a master of legal sciences currently working as a civil servant in the Municipality of Brvenica itself. The advantage they emphasise is that he knows the municipal administration, the procedures and the daily needs of residents, so he could start work immediately. The candidacy runs under the slogan "From day one, in the service of the people of Brvenica".

The Democratic Union for Integration nominated Arkin Jahiji.

What this tells you

VMRO-DPMNE and VLEN sit in the same government. In Brvenica they are running against each other. That is not a scandal - it is the normal mechanism of Macedonian politics, where the coalition holds in parliament while on the ground everyone defends their own patch. But the line about "uniting all progressive forces" carries a different weight when your partner has already fielded their own man.

It is also worth noting that two of the three candidates are lawyers, and one of them is employed by the municipality he is running for. That means he knows everything - the budget, the procedures, the files. Whether that is an advantage or a conflict, the voters will decide.

Expect the campaign to talk about local infrastructure, utilities and the work of the administration. From experience, it will mostly be about who is with whom.