Professor of the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, Miloš Bešić, said yesterday that the opposition in Serbia has a serious chance of a good result if it goes to the upcoming elections in two columns.
Bešić told the Beta agency that he expects all elections to be held by the end of this year, but that there will be no significant changes in election conditions.
Representatives of the opposition parties organizing the "Serbia against violence" protests yesterday requested the urgent calling of extraordinary parliamentary and Belgrade elections by the end of the year, so that, as they stated, the opposition would, as its first step after the removal of the progressive regime, fulfill the demands of the citizens.
"We demand an urgent response from the President of the State, Aleksandar Vučić. The organizers of the protest will block this session of the Assembly until we receive an answer about the calling of elections", said at the press conference in the Assembly of Serbia.
Vučić made the decision that extraordinary parliamentary elections will be held in December, the portal N1 announced
Commenting on the opposition's decision to block the work of the parliament, Bešić said that the boycott will put additional pressure on the government and weaken the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
"The key is whether the boycott of the work of the parliament will produce unity in the opposition or whether the opposition parties will appear in several columns in the elections. The boycott of the parliament will certainly put additional pressure on the government, weakening the SNS and strengthening the opposition forces with the support of the citizens," Bešić said.
According to him, the government will certainly organize the Belgrade elections by the end of the year.
The President of Serbia and until recently the leader of the SNS, Aleksandar Vučić, has decided that extraordinary parliamentary elections will be held in December, the portal N1 announced, citing a source close to the leadership of the progressives. The source stated that he received the information about it a day before a part of the opposition emphasized the demand that new elections for deputies be held by the end of the year.
The progressives have already held meetings with members of several local party committees, where the topic was preparation for the upcoming elections, source N1 said. According to him, the progressives are currently conducting independent surveys of public opinion on how the party stands at the national and local levels.
"It is not excluded that local elections will be held at the same time in certain cities and municipalities that are estimated to be winnable, and maybe even in all of them. This will be decided in the coming days, because there is still enough time to comply with the legal deadlines for holding special local elections by the end of the year," added the interviewee of the N1 portal.
Professor Bešić assessed that the protests of citizens of "Serbia against violence" weakened the existing government and that the energy and capacity of SNS are in decline.
"Citizens who want change increasingly express the need for political participation in order to change the government," said Bešić.
The opposition has decided to block the work of the Serbian Parliament, demanding the holding of extraordinary parliamentary and Belgrade elections by the end of the year
When asked by Beta whether the opposition should participate in the elections if the election conditions do not change, Bešić said that the election conditions will not change.
"If the election conditions change, it will be something cartoonish. The conditions are not equal, nor will they be. The government would demonstrate weakness if it gave in to the opposition's demands that the election conditions be equal. The essential thing is for the opposition to unite in the next elections, even under the current conditions, it will have a serious chance if it goes to the elections in a maximum of two columns", concluded Bešić.
Vučić repeatedly announced extraordinary parliamentary elections, moving the deadline for their holding, and at the end of August, for the first time, he mentioned the possibility that a new vote for the republic's parliament would be held in 2023.
"Well, this is not a fountain of wishes, that you are looking for Belgrade ones, and you will not want others. You will have an election very soon. Will it be in three or six months... Certainly in the next six to seven months there will be an election", emphasized Vučić at the time.
The fight in the parliament continues
Part of the opposition, as they announced earlier, "blocked" yesterday's session of the Serbian Parliament by approaching speakers and whistling. As members of the Government entered the hall, they were accompanied by whistles and shouts of "thieves", N1 reported.
Parliament Speaker Vladimir Orlić and Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić spoke persistently while the opposition disrupted the session, telling the opposition that they should be ashamed of themselves.
Orlić announced the continuation of the discussion for today, as well as the vote for the Minister of Economy. The representatives of the opposition did not want to reveal whether they would disrupt the session again, but they announced that they would continue the fight in the parliament.
The president of the Movement of Free Citizens, Pavle Grbović, said that it was the first time in the Serbian Parliament that representatives of the government entered the parliament with armed security. At the press conference in the Parliament, he said that 18 members of the parliament's security prevented the movement of deputies and that there were members of the army and the police around the building.
"Today, the most secure place in the country was the Parliament, because the government was afraid of the message that they did nothing to prevent the May tragedies from happening again," Grbović said, adding that such a parliament should not exist.
Bonus video:
