Vucic: Snap Elections by July 10 or in Autumn

Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

In an April 14 statement for the RTS public broadcaster, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic reiterated that early parliamentary elections will be held this year and mentioned two options: by July 10 or between September and the end of the year.

Summer elections in the second half of July or August are not on the table, he said.

Vucic went on to claim that he has had enough of ruling since his government has “carried more than anyone else in Serbia since the multiparty system was introduced” in 1990, but underscored his interest in fighting for the public to protect it from being “dragged backward by false change.”

“If my mind continues to work [and] if I don’t have any other problems, I’m afraid [the public] will go on waiting for many others around us to fall, and that it will always rejoice – to no avail,” Vucic said, likely referencing the recent electoral loss of his close ally Victor Orban, Hungary’s former prime minister.

The president told the RTS that the National Assembly of Serbia will adopt all the recommendations for improving Serbia’s electoral conditions put forth by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

According to Vucic, the government will also fully abide by the Venice Commission’s stance regarding the controversial changes to six of Serbia’s judicial laws, informally called Mrdic’s Laws, after the ruling Progressive Party of Serbia MP who proposed them.

“If [the Venice Commission] says they’re no good – we’ll void them. If [the Commission] says all is well – we’ll keep them all. Whatever the Venice Commission says we will abide by,” Vucic concluded.