Democrats: University Students Have Strong Rationale for Ignoring Opposition

University Students Block Public Service Facilities(BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

One gets the impression that Serbia’s protesting university students have a very strong rationale for ignoring the opposition and calling on opposition parties to stand aside in the next parliamentary elections, Democratic Party vice president Branimir Jovancicevic said on Oct. 8.

“First, there is the [opposition’s] disunity, which has reached epic proportions. Next are the leadership principles determining how [political] parties are structured, which is a kind of poison to the development of democracy. Illogical political moves which have remained unexplained [are also a factor]. There have been many of those but the most glaring is the decision certain political parties made to withdraw from Belgrade’s last local elections,” said Jovancicevic, who is also a professor of the Belgrade University School of Chemistry.

In his op-ed for the Danas daily, the professor and politician labeled the latter political decision “corruption in the lines of the opposition” which resulted in the university students developing a negative stance toward the opposition and any potential collaboration.

The Democratic Party is one of the few opposition parties to announce it will not run in the next parliamentary elections should the students proceed with their own ticket. Instead, the Democrats plan to offer their support and party infrastructure to the student ticket, which is said to be nearly complete.