Progressive Party Leadership Member Calls for Nebojsa Stefanovic's Dismissal

Vladimir Djukanovic (YouTube printscreen)

Vladimir Djukanovic, a member of the Serbian Progressive Party leadership, has called for the dismissal of Serbian Defense Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic from the post of head of the party's Belgrade chapter.

"I am a member of the Presidency and Main Committee of the party and am also a member of the Serbian Assembly, and I feel the need, as someone who loves their party and is among the first 50 of its founders, to publicly state that I am absolutely for the dismissal of the complete Belgrade chapter of the Serbian Progressive Party," Djukanovic said in a Facebook post late on May 13.

Stefanovic is one of the founders of the Progressive party, a member of the party leadership, head of the Belgrade chapter, minister of defense, and a deputy prime minister. He was the speaker of the National Assembly and after that the minister of interior.

Several media outlets have reported that meetings of city and municipal chapters of the Progressive party have begun across Serbia, where the district chiefs of the party are acquainting members with the events that have long been the subject of public speculation, i.e. a conflict between the president of Serbia and the Progressive party, Aleksandar Vucic, and Stefanovic.

Website Juzne Vesti has reported that the Nis chapter of the party has voted no confidence in Stefanovic, but also in Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar. The Ozonpress portal has said that the Cacak chapter of the Progressive party has also met after more than a year and decided to recommend to Vucic and the competent party bodies to expel Stefanovic from the party.