Prime Minister Accuses Opposition of Wanting to Bypass Elections

Ana Brnabic, Belgrade, February 11 2023 (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV/MO)

Serbia’s opposition does not want to accept the offer for a snap election and would rather “seize power from the streets,” said Prime Minister Ana Brnabic on May 17.

In an interview for Happy TV, Brnabic maintained that the current regime is not trying to eschew the will of the people, but that the opposition has rejected the proposed early elections as a ploy by President Aleksandar Vucic to defuse the ongoing protests.

“They say ‘We don’t want elections, Vucic is trying to trick us.’ They want to seize power from the streets. I don’t see what they’re blaming Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic or Security Information Agency Director Aleksandar Vulin for,” Brnabic said with regards to the demands made at the recently-held Serbia Against Violence rally.

Commenting on the May 16 farmers’ protests, the prime minister said that local agriculture “is receiving three times more investments than ten years ago.”

“I’ve been speaking to farmers at least twice a week. There are many associations, it’s impossible to meet everyone’s demands,” she stated, adding that their requests “need to be reasonable.”