Vucic: No New Elections Unless Institutions Decide or There Is No Majority

Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/EMIL VAS)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Dec. 24 that there would be no new elections unless the relevant institutions decided so or if there was no majority in the parliament.

In a televized address to the nation from the Presidency of Serbia, Vucic said the elections on Dec. 17 had passed "more peacefully than ever in recent Serbian history." "I congratulate the citizens on their democratically expressed will. There were almost no physical incidents among participants in the elections, apart from the attack on CRTA observers in Odzaci. It is interesting that there were no physical incidents during the campaign. This has never happened before in Serbia," Vucic said.

Vucic said it was unlikely that Ana Brnabic would be prime minister again, but did say she would have an "important function." He added that he had informed her ahead of the elections that this was her last term as prime minister.

Responding to reporters' questions about politicians on hunger strike, he said he begged them to stop. "I want to ask anyone on hunger strike to not do that. Let them go back to their obligations. They can stage protests every day. I am used to protests," he said, adding that Belgrade would not accept any documents that obliged it to support or aid Kosovo's membership in the United Nations or any of its institutions, organizations and agencies.