Mickoski campaigns for the runoff in Brvenica: the candidate thanks the prime minister for the projects, the prime minister asks voters to "circle number 1"

A rural municipality in the Polog region, a local election runoff on 1 November and a prime minister on the campaign trail. Yesterday Hristijan Mickoski toured Drenovo, Radiovce, Tenovo, Sedlarce and Brvenica, shoulder to shoulder with VMRO-DPMNE's mayoral candidate, Stojancho Radichevski.

Radichevski thanked the voters from the first round and said he expects even more support and a win in the second. But his first thanks didn't go to them. "First of all I want to thank the president for his support for all the projects that are being carried out," the candidate said, explaining that projects in the municipality are being delivered "with the support of the government and the prime minister".

State or party?

This is worth pausing on. The party president is also the country's prime minister, but the budget that funds the projects is not party money. When a mayoral candidate thanks the prime minister for projects in the middle of a campaign, the message to voters is clear without anyone saying it: who decides whether the money comes. Will the projects carry on if someone else wins in Brvenica?

Mickoski, for his part, turned the story toward his opponents. "They talk about divisions along ethnic lines, we address all citizens here in Brvenica municipality and talk about togetherness," he said, adding that for the other side the elections are "a lifeline for their political careers", which, he claimed, will be remembered "for crime and division". He named no names and offered no evidence for the serious accusation.

He wrapped up with electoral arithmetic. Brvenica, he says, isn't sending a message just for the municipality but "for all of Macedonia". And one more call: "let's circle number 1 and celebrate together on 1 November". After 1 November, Mickoski warned, "2 November will come" and some "will be gone". What will be left in Brvenica of all the promises once the cameras are gone too?