Freedom and Justice Party: Belgrade Vote Now, Remaining Elections Once Electoral Recommendations Are Implemented

Dragan Djilas (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

Snap Belgrade elections should be held this year, as the authorities pledged to do, while parliamentary elections should be called only after the European Parliament’s electoral recommendations have been met, said Dragan Djilas, the leader of the Freedom and Justice Party.

“Belgrade [elections should be called] immediately, because, by promising Belgraders a repeat election since March, Aleksandar Vucic himself communicated that the capital’s administration lacks legitimacy. He thereby confirmed our own stance, which is based on the fact that opposition parties received 70,000 more votes than did the ruling [parties],” Djilas told the Aug. 30 edition of the Politika daily.

According to him, a parliamentary vote can be held after the implementation of the electoral recommendations provided by the European Parliament and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the latter of which oversaw Serbia’s 2022 general election.

“The application of those recommendations would ensure that our elections were at least somewhat democratic, unlike the false votes held so far,” Djilas concluded.