Serbian opposition split over election boycott
The Serbian opposition movement “1 in 5 Million,” which organizes weekly anti-government protests in Belgrade, will be forced to abandon its boycott of the elections if its allies, the Party of Modern Serbia and the New Party, do not support it within a week.
This was stated by the movement’s representative Valentina Rekovic, as reported by the PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Some parties that had already announced a boycott did not hope that we would learn that they were preparing for local elections. Therefore, we call on them to suspend all preparations for the elections for 7 days, otherwise our Movement will also go to local elections,” Rekovic said.
At the same time, she threatened that “1 in 5 million” would not allow former allies into the national parliament, whose elections are scheduled for the spring.
“Because they did not announce a boycott, they showed that they intend to participate in the elections. But we will block their participation in parliament, we will not allow them (the two above-mentioned parties) to enter it,” Rekovic put forward an ultimatum.
She recalled that the Movement was “the initiator of the Agreement and the initiator of the boycott” and it is “the last support for the protection of each signature” under the “Agreement with the People,” a document adopted by the opposition in February last year.
“This is our responsibility and obligation, because we are the initiators of the agreement. This is the only way we can protect him,” said the movement activist.
The “Agreement with the People” was signed on February 6, 2019 by the majority of parliamentary and non-parliamentary opposition parties. It spelled out a number of key points, including refusal to participate in the work of all institutions (primarily the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia) and boycott of any elections.
On September 3, protest organizers announced that they called on citizens and parties in Serbia to boycott the next parliamentary elections, due to take place in 2020.
At the moment, members of the Union for Serbia, the Freedom and Justice Party of Dragan Djilas, the Doors of Boško Obradovic, the Democratic Party and others, have expressed their decision to boycott the elections.
At the same time, the European Union insists on lifting the boycott and is lobbying for concessions in favor of the opposition from the Serbian government.
Serbian opposition splits over election boycott