Opposition Official: Vucic is Running a Presidential Campaign

Zdravko Ponos (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

The leader of the Serbia Center (SRCE) party Zdravko Ponos, also a candidate for Parliament running on the “Serbia against Violence” slate, said on Dec. 13 that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic clearly ignored the separation line between his official functions and campaigning activities, running as a presidential candidate would, as if the upcoming polls were not parliamentary and local.

Ponos said in an interview with the Danas newspaper that the president of the Serbian Progressive Party, Milos Vucevic, was not campaigning, but that “Vucic and his court jesters are.”

“During a visit to Nis a few days ago, Vucic even ridiculed the rules banning his favorite form of campaigning within 30 days ahead of elections. It wasn’t enough apparently, as he didn’t miss a photo-op with members of the Army of Serbia special units,” Ponos said.

The opposition official said that it’s very important that those who didn’t trust the current authorities should go to the polls, even though they were not convinced that change was possible. “Whether a change will happen or not depends on those people. If they vote, if those five percent of Serbian voters go to the polls, Serbia will finally return to normality,” Ponos said.