University Professor: Djilas-Vucic Meeting Was Brokered by a Foreign Factor

Ognjen Radonjic, a professor of the Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy (Photo: Beta/MILAN OBRADOVIC)

Ognjen Radonjic, a professor of the Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy, on April 19 said that an agreement on holding new local elections in Belgrade between the leaders of the Serbian Progressive Party and the opposition Freedom and Justice Party, Aleksandar Vucic and Dragan Djilas respectively, had been made before or during election night with mediation of a foreign factor.

Asked why the Progressives’ leader had announced new Belgrade elections when his party and the Socialist Party of Serbia could form a majority of 56 aldermen in the 110-seat city assembly, Radonjic told BETA that Vucic had said he would consult with his party members about holding a new vote in Belgrade “after a staged meeting with Djilas, allegedly over the legitimacy of the majority (in the city assembly).”

“That, of course, does not mean anything as he (Vucic) has never cared about legitimacy. If he cared about legitimacy, the single-party parliament would not have been operating over the past two years and the elections would have been regular and not a farce marked with numerous irregularities, pressure on voters, vote buying, harassing opposition controllers at the polls… Therefore, I suspect that their deal was made before or during election night with mediation of a foreign factor,” Radonjic said in an interview with BETA.

According to him, if the rhetoric of both politicians is followed carefully, one can observe the unusual use of same phrases, including those about legitimacy and reducing tension, and even the empathy expressed by both of them in relation to how opposition and Progressives voters now feel over their meeting.

“The Vucic-Djilas meeting is a cheap performance and the ultimate outcome is usurpation of institutions. At the very least, it is arrogant to discuss holding of new elections while this electoral process is still ongoing. Due to irregularities, the vote was repeated at some polls on April 16, and it will be also repeated on April 21. And not to mention the resolution of a large number of pending complaints before the Administrative Court,” the professor said.

Radonjic stressed that the agreement to hold new elections in Belgrade largely looked like a cover for recognizing irregular parliamentary and presidential elections.