Macedonian Parties Run Contrasting Campaigns

PM Nikola Gruevski of VMRO DPMNE | Photo by: VMRO DPMNE

In the general camapign in Macedonia, the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party is dominating the media advertising space and social networks, while the opposition Social Democrats have opted for a more personal approach, going from door to door bearing traditional goodwill gifts.

The ruling party of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is running an intensive media campaign, presenting parts of its extensive election platform, dubbed the “Manifesto for Reforms and Development”.

Billboard TV and newspaper adverts for the party's campaign slogan “Reforms Will Win”, dominate the media.

The party is conducting an extensive campaign on online media and social networking sites, with banners leading to the dedicated party election site, where people can watch live streamed as well as recorded speeches of the Prime Minister, ask him a question or apply to meet him in person.

“We are a transparent party. We welcome people to visit our website and see for themselves what we have promised and what we've fulfilled,” Gruevski told a party rally recently.

The page containing Gruevski’s speeches has more than 43,000 followers only from Facebook.

The Social Democrats adopted a rather different emphasis, spending less on traditional media adverts and trying to mingle more among ordinary people.

The Social Democrats' Secretary General, Andrej Petrov, says they “wanted to show that we are different from the government.

Social Democrats head, Branko Crvenkovski and the PM-in-waiting Radmila Shekerinska | Photo by: SDSM

“Instead of spending money on expensive billboards we opted for direct contact with the people. We think that through informal conversation we can best promote our values,” Petrov said.

Petrov and other high-ranking Social Democrats tour the country, visiting households door to door. With them they carry the traditional goodwill gifts people bring with them on a first visit to a friend’s house - a pack of coffee and a Turkish delight - on which they have printed their party logo.

Petrov explains that they plan to visit some 250,000 households during the campaign.

The Social Democrats are also trying to catch up with their internet promotion. The Facebook fan page of their Prime Minister-in-waiting, Radmila Shekerinska, has some 11,000 followers. Through it they have organized live chats with Shekerinska.

Political analyst Vladimir Bozinovski, from the Skopje-based Institute for Political Research, says that the VMRO-DPMNE is leading the way with its presence on the internet.

“The novelty in these elections is the more extensive use of Facebook, different blogs and political party portals. This is particularly noticeable with the ruling party,” he says.

One thing that both parties have in common are big party rallies. Both parties plan to end their campaigns with rallies in the capital, Skopje.

The campaign for the early elections started last Monday and lasts for 20 days.