Socialists Contradict Vucic’s Claims of Party’s Steep Decline

Belgrade, panorama (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

The Socialist Party of Serbia is stable, politically unavoidable and a necessary component to any serious government structure, Socialist leader Ivica Dacic said on May 6, following claims by their coalition partner, the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, that the Socialists will not be able to meet the threshold in the next parliamentary election.



In his statement, which can also be viewed as a response to President Aleksandar Vucic’s assertions regarding the Socialists’ decreasing significance, Dacic also said that his party will continue its policy of protecting state and national interests and that it “will always be a factor without which any serious political structure in the country cannot be constructed.”



The Socialist Party of Serbia, Dacic went on, “is not a party that appears and disappears depending on which way the wind blows” but remains “stable, organized and politically unavoidable.”



On May 5, Vucic pointed out that the Socialists under Slobodan Milosevic held 40 percent of voter support, while this number has never surpassed 15 percent since Dacic took over.



“I’ve accepted them into the Cabinet three times, although I didn’t need them once to form a majority… When Ivica Dacic leaves, even five percent [of votes] will be unobtainable for them. It’s questionable whether they’ll be able to pass the current three-percent threshold. Mark my words,” Vucic told Informer TV.