Filipche: The people behind the platform want to seize SDSM in a coup, but they won’t get away with it

In an interview with the portal 360 Stepeni, SDSM leader Venko Filipche said the people behind the “12.05” platform want to seize the party through a “café and hotel coup,” describing the initiative’s efforts as a takeover of the leadership without elections.

“How can I believe in the goals of this platform when, faced with an open invitation of ‘come and let’s talk,’ they insist on staying on the sidelines of the party?” he asked in the interview published on 25 September.

Filipche added that the party has already given its answer: “We have received an answer. We have 23,000 members who signed for the leader’s vision and the party’s direction. What reform are these people asking for? I repeat, I am ready to meet with anyone and debate any topic. I know they would lose every debate, because their goals are not sincere and honest.”

The platform emerged under the name “Talks about the future at 12:05” with its first meeting in July 2026 and aims to remove SDSM’s leadership without elections. Filipche calls its initiators former officials “who took part in SDSM’s defeat.”