Pro-European Opposition Formally Requests Parliamentary, Belgrade Elections

Photo: Beta/Milos Miskov

Serbia’s pro-European opposition filed on Sept. 11 a formal request to President Aleksandar Vucic for parliamentary polls and a vote in Belgrade to be held by the end of the year.

The request was lodged with the Registry of the Presidency of Serbia by the opposition parties behind the technical organization of the Serbia Against Violence protests, namely the Democratic Party, the Ecological Uprising, the Green-Left Front (formerly Don’t Let Belgrade Drown), Together – We Must and the parliamentarian groups “People’s Movement of Serbia – New Face of Serbia,” and “Destination: Europe.” The “Destination: Europe” parliamentary group includes the Freedom and Justice Party, the Free Citizens’ Movement, the Turnaround Movement and the “Sloga” (Concord) Trade Union.

The opposition leaders said at a press conference that they had requested new elections because the country was “in a deep social, economic and political crisis”, and that the opposition and citizens of Serbia had been exposed to “institutional, verbal and political violence” on a daily basis.

They want free, fair and democratic elections based on the recommendations presented by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the European Parliament and the European Commission. If the elections are not called, the opposition will start a campaign in the streets of Belgrade and across Serbia, the opposition leaders promised.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sept. 11 that he would read their request when he returned from a meeting in Skopje, and answer by the end of the month.

“It is interesting to note that those people had been threatening for four months that if I called elections there would be none, that we would have elections in the streets and that I would face the rage of the people. Now they have a completely different opinion. Did they have lunch in an embassy, was it, perhaps, a breakfast or snack only, I can’t tell. I don’t know what happened in their heads, but I am pleased that the change took place,” Vucic said, answering a reporter’s question in Skopje.