Ruling Party Member Calls for Higher Electoral Threshold Says No Need for Early Elections Because There Is No Crisis

Vladimir Djukanovic (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

Serbian Progressive Party presidency member Vladimir Djukanovic said on Aug. 3 that the election threshold needed to be raised as now "people who cannot get votes in their own families are getting votes, so when they enter parliament they go crazy and create a circus."

"I personally think that the election threshold should be raised to five percent, seven percent for a coalition of two parties and ten percent for a coalition of more than that," Djukanovic told Prva TV. He said that the opposition "would like only to run in elections in Belgrade but are lying about that too."

Djukanovic stressed that elections were necessary when a political crisis needed to be solved, but that, "There is no crisis - there is a majority in the city assembly in Belgrade, there is a majority in Serbian parliament."

"There is no need for early parliamentary elections. But, ok, we want to if you (the opposition) really think that this government is the worst, [that it is] a dictatorship, then people here you go, here's your chance for elections. But then do not ask for partial [elections] but let's have ourselves nice elections on every level," Djukanovic said.