NGO on Snap Parliamentary, Presidential Elections

Nikola Jovanovic (Beta/Emil Vas)

Serbia’s early parliamentary elections will most likely take place in October and their outcome will be decided “at most, by five percent of votes,” Nikola Jovanovic, the director of the non-governmental Center for Local Self-Government, told the media on July 29.

“Maybe the regime is somewhat ready to lose the presidential elections, because that would, in its eyes, represent a ‘democratic solution’ with ‘cohabitation signifying pluralism.’ What is beyond doubt is that it is practically impossible for them to win the presidential elections, let alone the local elections in large cities,” explained Jovanovic, who once helmed the oppositional Alliance of Serbia caucus in the Belgrade City Assembly.

According to him, the university student movement has managed “something not seen since 2014, firstly by rallying serious numbers [of people] and then [offering] serious structure” – all under impossible circumstances.

“No one views them as self-serving power mongers [because] they have no particular interest other than a long-term desire to see order brought to society so that they can stay [in the country] and prosper. And that is the key difference between them and all other [political] actors, whom a large portion of the population views as self-serving and part of the system, even when many actually aren’t,” Jovanovic concluded.