Opposition Leader: Every Mention of Elections At This Point Favors Government

Zdravko Ponos( BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC/MO)

The president of the Serbia Center (SRCE) movement, Zdravko Ponos, said on June 14 that any mention of elections at this point “favors the regime,” adding that he would not expect an early parliamentary vote by the end of the year, perhaps just Belgrade polls instead.

“Vucic needs any kind of election to drive the people away from the streets and the opposition into a political slaughter line. There will be no extraordinary parliamentary elections by the end of the year. Vucic would try and use them to avoid the international commitments he accepted, and he’s unlikely to get away with it,” Ponos said in an interview for the Danas newspaper, published on June 14.

According to the SRCE leader, the regime might call local polls in the capital, because it wouldn’t bother foreign actors too much, and that might just as well be the “sacrifice Vucic could take to extinguish the protests.”

When asked if the public appearances he shared with the Democrat leader, Zoran Lutovac, a co-chair of the Together party, Nebojsa Zelenovic, and representatives of the Let’s Not Drawn Belgrade might signal a new coalition, Ponos said it’s too early to talk about that.