Racism from those at the top: ERRC Files Complaint Against Councillor for Hate Speech in Negotino, North Macedonia

11 November 2025

By Judit Ignacz

When a local politician openly states that “Gypsies should be forbidden from voting,” it is not only a political statement but an open violation of fundamental human rights.

That is exactly what happened in Negotino, North Macedonia, when Ljube Temelkov, a councillor from the MAAK party, posted on Facebook on 20th October that “the Gypsies should be forbidden from voting.” His post included further offensive and derogatory remarks, painting Romani people as unworthy citizens. His comments are yet another example of an elected official failing to uphold their duty to represent everyone and instead using their platform to deny Romani people a place and voice in democracy publicly.

“This is not simply a matter of insensitive language. Such rhetoric contributes to a hostile climate for Romani people in Negotino. Hate speech is not protected under the right to free expression. When public officials talk like this, it does not just hurt feelings, it tells Romani people that they have no place in democratic life. We cannot allow that to become normal,” said Mustafa Asanovski, the ERRC’s country facilitator in North Macedonia.

Civil society groups immediately reacted to the post and condemned it as racist and unacceptable. Under pressure, Temelkov later issued a public denial and claimed that he was misunderstood and his use of the word ǵupci (an anti-Roma slur derived from the same etymology as ‘gypsy’) was not meant to target Romani people but to ‘people without honour’ generally.

Legal experts and advocates rejected this explanation as a classic example of "dog-whistle" or coded hate speech, a language that masks discriminatory intent behind ostensibly innocent meaning. As Mustafa Asanovski noted: “This is a classic example of using coded language to conceal discriminatory intent. Politicians often resort to vague justifications after fuelling hate, pretending it’s all a misunderstanding. But in North Macedonia, everyone understands whom such language targets. It’s overtly racist and deeply dangerous.”

Within a week of the post the ERRC filed a formal complaint with the Equality Body on 27th October 2025. The complaint characterises Temelkov's statements as incitement to discrimination and harassment under Macedonian and international law, and cites the Constitution’s guarantee of equality, the Law on Prevention and Protection against Discrimination, and articles of the Criminal Code that penalise hate speech. It also draws on international standards, including the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The ERRC is asking the Equality Body to formally recognise Temelkov’s post as discrimination and harassment, to issue a public apology to the Romani community, and to impose legal sanctions in accordance with the law. It also calls for mandatory anti-discrimination training for public officials, disciplinary measures, and human rights education within Temelkov’s political party. The Equality Body is reviewing the complaint in the coming weeks.

Unfortunately, Temelkov’s speech is not an isolated case but illustrates a broader European pattern in which politicians and public figures continue to use racist rhetoric, hate speech, and incite hatred against Romani people with impunity. In Hungary, Viktor Orbán said in connection to a school segregation case: “How it is that, for some reason, members of an ethnically determined group living in a community with me, in a village, can receive significant sums of money without doing any work while I toil every day. While I don't know how many hours, days, or years I have to work for this money. These people are right. This whole thing is deeply unfair and not good…The majority must also feel at home. It cannot happen that for the minority to feel at home, the majority has to feel like strangers in their own city, village, or country. This is unacceptable, and as long as I am the Prime Minister, this will not happen. This is, after all, the country of the natives, that is, ours. I see that organisations like those of George Soros have launched this action."

In Italy, Emanuele Licopodio, a Lega city councillor in Rome, said in a social media video that “Roma are parasites of our society” and called on the Meloni government to evict the Romani camp in Via Salone.

In Bulgaria, far-right former Deputy Prime Minister Karakachanov once made a call for the “unification of patriotic formations” against the “creeping gypsyisation of society”. He insisted this was not an ethnic term but referred to “a part of society (that) has learned very well that it has rights but does not want to learn that it has obligations.  They very clearly, highly, and eagerly want to use the social funds, but they do not want to pay a penny in with hard work and effort.”

More recently, in Romania, Partida Romilor leader Nicolae Păun published a series of social media posts on Facebook in which he accused several Romani organisations of being “founded and financed by Soros,” to “poison the minds of young Roma,” and called to “STOP the campaigns promoting homosexuality in Roma communities.”

The Negotino case is the latest reminder that hate speech from public officials is never harmless. It shapes how people think, normalises and fuels prejudices, and undermines human rights. When racism and hatred come from those in power, it encourages others to hate more openly and act even more violently. With this egal complaint, the ERRC sends a clear and strong message: words have consequences, and those in power must also be held accountable for the harm their words and actions cause.