Serbian intellectuals and public figures who stood behind the presidential candidate Saša Janković recognized themselves in Aleksandar Vučić's statement about the false elite, and retaliated just as harshly.
In a statement for Danas, Srbijanka Turajlić, a retired professor, says that for Vučić, everything that does not correspond to the fictional image that he tries to portray to the citizens of Serbia with the help of the media and an unrealistically large number of sycophants is a lie.
"Unfortunately for him, the opposition candidates are a reality (which started to cause him more and more noticeable nervousness and even panic), and those who support them in increasing numbers are also a reality (whether they are what is called the elite or not, which really is not This is precisely why I belong to that very real group of citizens who, by supporting Saša Janković, want to lay the cornerstone of a legal state in which no one will ever be able to brutally insult citizens and trample on all their rights, Turajlić told Danas.
Branka Prpa, a historian, states for this newspaper that the prime minister clearly has a problem with the definition of the term elite.
"He ties it to power and not to virtue. The elite can be ruling, and it can be tied to virtue and morality, as well as to work for the public good. The prime minister obviously has a problem with the definition of the elite from the standpoint of ethics. For him, ethics is not a part politics, and for him, work for the public and common good is not related to the concept of the elite. So we are distant from him not from today or tomorrow, but from yesterday. We have been distant from him for decades and it has always been that way". she says.
Director Janko Baljak, one of the signatories of Appeal 100, said in a statement to Insider that the label of false elite was attached to them because they are not of the court.
He emphasizes that those who decided to publicly support Janković consciously ran the risk of being dragged through the "mud" by the tabloids.
"None of us expected that we would pass without consequences, but this is our cry for a civilized state," says Baljak. He emphasized that Saša Janković does not hide behind public figures.
"He is one of us and that's why he is not in the foreground. We don't want to have a leader and a messiah, but a decent and civilized president of the country," Baljak told Insider.
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