Vucic Announces Gov’t on Wheels, Investments, Greater Transfers Toward South During Platform Presentation

Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/PREDSEDNISTVO REPUBLIKE SRBIJE/Dimitrije Goll)

Aleksandar Vucic, lead candidate on the Serbia Will Win electoral ticket, said at an election rally in the Belgrade Arena venue on Oct. 3 that, if his option wins, Serbia will have 12 instead of 31 ministers and him as prime minister, and that it will be a "cabinet on wheels."

Presenting the platform of the ruling political option he added that it is crucial that "they are changing" and that ministers will no longer be able to leave Belgrade for an hour-long event "twice a week," while municipal officials do not tour villages enough, which he described as "a big problem."

He also said that he traveled across Serbia all of last week, mostly outside big cities, and that he met people who "see new paths" and "earn relatively more," while pensioners have a little more and live somewhat better. He further announced a new transfer policy toward municipalities, where tax money "won't go to the richest, but to the poorest," especially in five districts in southern Serbia, but in other poor municipalities too.

The Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability has said that a total of 46 TV stations broadcast the Serbia United election rally at Belgrade Arena live. This included national-coverage stations like Pink and Prva TV, cable channels like Kurir, Informer, Blic, Tanjug and Vesti, and a large number of local stations. The report noted that most of these programs did not include a notice that the program represented election campaigning, even though the law requires all television stations broadcasting such programming to do so. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was announced as a guest speaker, cancelled his appearance citing acute health issues -- a viral infection.