Analyst: Initiative for Lower Election Threshold to Create Quasi Democracy in Serbia

Cvijetin Milivojevic (Photo: YouTube)

A political analyst, Cvijetin Milivojevic, said on Jan. 13 that even though there's no legal obstacle to changing national legislation in an election year, the problem was that a good part of the opposition had decided to boycott the next election, and a move to reduce the election threshold would open the doors of the parliament to parties that did not have sufficient voter support, in order to create a quasi democracy in Serbia.

Milivojevic said in a comment for BETA that "in a normal state no one would object to lowering the country's electoral threshold, but not when an election boycott is on, as it could generate instant parties, for this election only."

"Aleksandar Vucic is not offering a lower threshold, he's just testing public opinion. It might have been good if a request to lower the election threshold was one of the opposition's demands for electoral reform - it would make sense to increase the threshold for the parties running in coalitions, including the Serbian Progressive Party," Milivojevic explained.

The expert has warned "there's clearly something else behind the initiative for a lower threshold - it could serve as bait for as many small parties as possible, alleviating the effects of the election boycott." "Clearly the intention is less than sincere," says Milivojevic.