Vladimir Djukanovic (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)
In an Aug. 7 op-ed for the Ekspres weekly, ruling Serbian Progressive Party official Vladimir Djukanovic said that the upcoming snap parliamentary elections could “easily” include several university student tickets and accused the civil society sector of trying to take over the country.
According to him, the University Student Ticket, which recently registered as a citizens’ association, will not be the only ticket laying claim to “the fraudulent university student protests” over the lethal Nov. 1, 2024 canopy collapse at Novi Sad’s Central Railway Station.
Djukanovic believes that multiple so-called university student tickets will crop up if the students fail to reach agreements with expected allies.
“Since it is impossible to determine who is not telling to the truth – given that they have hidden everything so far and that the public still has no clue, at least officially, who is behind the project called ‘the university student ticket’ – the scenario I mentioned is quite probable,” the politician explained.
The Progressive official went on to criticize the university student movement for registering as a citizens’ association, thereby bypassing the required 10,000 signatures necessary for registering a political party. Back in the day, he said, the Progressives had to gather as many as 120,000 signatures.
“All in all, we are looking at an attempt by the non-governmental sector to completely assume power. Their ultimate goal is the destruction of political parties. Essentially, they want to suspend all democratic processes in Serbia,” Djukanovic wrote.
What the country needs, he concluded, is to “clean up” its political scene by allowing only political parties to run in elections, or possibly citizens’ associations as well, only according to more stringent criteria than those currently in effect.
“Everything else is a waste of time and an attempt to undermine democracy and the will of the people,” Djukanovic concluded.
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