Opposition Politician Claims Progressives Tried to Buy His Support

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Milan Ljutovac, an alderman in the last convocation of the Belgrade City Assembly who ran for re-election on the Serbian Against Violence coalition ticket in the December 2023 elections, said on March 14 that he was offered hundreds of thousands of euros in exchange for siding with the Serbian Progressive Party and enabling outgoing Mayor Aleksandar Sapic to again form a majority government in the capital.

“I had two offers, at the initiative of Sapic, the former mayor. First, they said they could offer me far more than I currently have. They implied I could have whatever I want, because talks on forming a majority were being conducted with others as well,” Ljutovac told the Nova daily.

Ljutovac went on to claim that, several days later, the Progressives called him back with a more concrete offer.

“They said they could do a lot for me and specifically offered me hundreds of thousands of euros. They emphasized that a budget was set aside for this purpose and that I could count on getting any project I wanted, assuring me there would be no issues whatsoever. They were referring to projects won in competitions posted by the local government,” said Ljutovac, who is the head of the Choosing Our Municipality of Batajnica movement, focused on his home neighborhood of Batajnica, a Belgrade suburb.