Former SDSM leader Zoran Zaev was the highest profile participant at the celebration that this party threw on the 35th anniversary of its founding. While Zaev has held a low profile since leaving office in 2021, he is widely seen as the true power behind current leader Venko Filipce.

His presence anniversary of the once state-forming party SDS confirms our claims that Zoran Zaev is the master and Filipce the apprentice in that party. If SDSM wants to reform itself and be the main opposition party in Macedonia, they have to distance themselves from the pardoned criminal Zoran Zaev. Otherwise, nothing will change in SDSM and things will continue to get worse for them, said VMRO-DPMNE in a statement.