Opposition largely Hail Students’ Demand for Snap Parliamentary Election, but Request Fair Conditions

Local Elections in Serbia, June 2 2024 (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Leader of opposition parties in Serbia have largely backed the demand of protesting students for scheduling a snap parliamentary election, noting that it is necessary to first form an interim cabinet for to change election conditions. 

People’s Party leader Vladimir Gajic has described the students’ demand as good, but noted “it is out of the question” for his party not to run in a potential election. “I think it is unrealistic for the opposition to stand aside and vote for the students-backed ticket, but some opposition parties have agreed to do so, such as Srdjan Milivojevic from the Democratic Party and Sava Manojlovic. I doubt that most of the opposition parties will accept that,” Gajic has told TV Blic.

The Green-Left Front has offered its backing to the announced political mobilization of the striking students and their demand for an early parliamentary election, but added that the issue of election conditions remained open. “We share the common goals – ousting the criminalized regime, but also rebuilding the institutions and in-depth democratization of Serbia, and we will be collaborating on these matters. We support political organization of students, especially because we, as a political organization, were born amid mass protests,” the Green-Left Front said in a release. 

Milos Jovanovic, the leader of the New Democratic Party of Serbia, has said that “it would be a great pity to give up the idea of a transitional government, because it would be the only reasonable solution that could really lead to democratic, free and fair elections.” Jovanovic told BETA that “elections organized by Aleksandar Vucic cannot be free or democratic, and it is surprising that it is now coming from someone else but Vucic, as he has been the only one mentioning it until now.” 

The Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia (POKS) has called on “everyone wishing to see changes in the society to come together in the struggle to ensure an interim government that would enjoy the trust of the people, which would ensure conditions for fair voting, instead of yet another electoral fraud.” “An election is a solution, but not an election which is unfair and is rigged even before ballots are cast, and not an election under current conditions, which would only serve the regime of Aleksandar Vucic to fortify its power,” POKS leader Vojislav Mihailovic has said.

New Party - Ask the Professional, represented in the Parliament, has backed the students’ demand and called for unity “of all available opposition forces in the country.” Party leader Vladimir Kovacevic has encouraged the parliamentary opposition parties to stand behind the students’ demand and to “right away leave the Serbian Parliament” as it would give a push to the process of scheduling an early election. 

Savo Manojlovic, the leader of ecological movement Get Going for Change and an alderman in the Belgrade Assembly, has backed the idea of students running in a potential early election. He also opposed the idea of denying the students the right to political action, stressing that the right to run as a candidate was guaranteed and inalienable.