Vucic:I will discuss election date with politicians who said they will run

Aleksandar Vucic (President's office/Dimitrije Goll)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on April 12 that he would talk about the date of elections with those politicians who had said they would participate in them.

Vucic told Prva TV that, since the COVID-19 outbreak, he had not dealt with nor was he interested in partisan matters. Commenting on claims that he has been using the pandemic to run a political campaign, Vucic said he had no idea what that was all about, adding that he had only visited Novi Pazar and Nis.

“Wherever I appeared, it was the same. Many expected, according to the tabloids, the coronavirus to take me as well. I really have no interest in that,” the president said.

Addressing the dissatisfaction of journalistic associations with a decision to stage press conferences on the epidemic without the journalists being physically present, but rather have them send their questions via email, the president explained it was the experts who had made the decision. It will be revoked once the contagion begins to recede, he added.

Vucic also said that the state of emergency would be called off once the number of patients on ventilators began to go down and the number of those admitted to temporary hospitals – those with lesser symptoms, started going up. “Epidemiologist Predrag Kon has said that this will happen two weeks after the number of infected reaches a certain level. I won’t be the one to pass this decision, nor will Prime Minister Ana Brnabic nor the Cabinet; it is up to the experts,” Vucic said.