Brnabić: It was not Vučić who called for a referendum, but the opposition through CRTA, we will not give up on this topic

She indicated that if the opposition does not submit 67 signatures, there will be no initiative to remove the president.

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Ana Brnabić, Photo: BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV
Ana Brnabić, Photo: BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabić stated today that it was not Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić who called for an advisory referendum on his removal, but that the opposition did it itself, through the Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA).

She told TV Prva that CRTA, in a "bombastic" statement about its public opinion survey, reported that in an advisory referendum to dismiss Vučić, as many as 52 percent of people would vote against him, and only 34 percent for him to stay.

"Vučić, as a responsible politician who believes in democracy and the will of the people, said: 'No problem, you have a national survey and a representative sample - great, let's go to a referendum! The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) as the largest party will provide 100 signatures of MPs to support your initiative,'" said Brnabić, who is also an official of the ruling SNS.

She said she expects the opposition to deliver more than 10 signatures to her in the morning, before 67 am, when I will have a press conference.

"After that, we'll agree on when we go to the referendum," she said.

She indicated that if the opposition does not submit 67 signatures, there will be no initiative to remove the president.

"We will submit 100 in support of their initiative, but if they do not have an initiative, they will probably then clearly show that they do not believe in these surveys and that they know and are absolutely convinced, as I am, that Aleksandar Vučić has the absolute majority support of the people," said Branbić.

She added that the government "will not run away" from the topic, that is, that it "will not let it out of the public eye anymore."

"We will insist that they show that they believe in the will of the citizens, that they want to go to a referendum, but I am afraid that they will show again that whenever it comes to the will of the citizens, they run away from it like the devil from the cross," Brnabić assessed.

According to her, the referendum is a democratic way for the opposition to "fight against arch-enemy Aleksandar Vučić", or "a tool to democratically come to power."

"Let's not chase each other through the streets, or rather, let's not chase us through the streets, let's not swim in the Sava and Danube as you threaten us, please! There is only one problem: whenever elections, the will of the people, the issue of citizens are mentioned, they simply, within 15 minutes, run away from it, just like Vuk Branković ran away from Kosovo in that Kosovo folk song cycle," said the parliament speaker.

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