By Xhabir Deralla
The war of numbers continues.
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski claimed that the celebrations marking 35 years of independence cost citizens and the state budget “zero denars”. A day later, under public pressure, the government disclosed that the events had cost around €5.53 million: 300 million denars from the undistributed profits of the state-owned lottery and another roughly 40 million denars from private companies.
Whether money belonging to a state-owned company is technically classified as budget money does not change the substance. These are assets of a company owned by the state, and the public has every right to demand full accountability for how they are used.
Then came another number. Mickoski spoke of more than 200,000 people attending the celebration, while David Guetta himself referred in a post from Skopje to 50,000 fans.
Similar battles over statistics have long surrounded pensions, economic growth and tourism. SDSM responds with statements, press conferences and increasingly sharp accusations, arguing that the government’s numbers bear little resemblance to citizens’ everyday reality.
Exposing inaccurate, manipulative or selectively presented figures is necessary. Those in power must be scrutinized, and every denar of public money must be traceable. But politics cannot begin and end with the statement: “Mickoski lied again.”
That is something journalists and civil society organizations working on democracy and transparency can – and must – do. Politicians must do it as well. But there is an important difference: political competition is not won merely by exposing your opponent.
The government controls the institutions and commands a vast propaganda machinery. If the opposition merely reacts to its daily agenda, then the government continues to decide the topics, the tempo and the terrain of political competition.
The country does not merely need a better rebuttal. It needs a better offer – one grounded in concrete ideas, values and policies, clear and convincing enough for citizens to recognize it as a genuine alternative.
Nor does a country already deeply divided along ethnic lines need more nationalism. Nationalism, regardless of where it comes from, cannot be a winning formula for the future. It can only deepen divisions, produce further disorder and, ultimately, create conditions in which violence becomes possible.
The country also needs better-informed citizens and a public sphere in which lies carry a political and moral cost, while truth is valued as a prerequisite for democratic development. The media and civil society bear responsibility too. So does the international community, with its often accommodating and stabilitocratic approach. All play a part in shaping the environment in which this crude, undemocratic and destructive political contest takes place.
Otherwise, the war of numbers will continue. And a government like this, even when it loses on the facts, will continue to win politically.
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