Re-run of Belgrade Elections Offers Way-Out for Vucic – Serbian Expert

With no party or bloc likely to form a majority in the Belgrade City Assembly, repeat elections in the capital would enable Serbia's ruling party to duck embarrassing arguments about irregularities, an expert told BIRN

City Assembly of Belgrade. EPA/KOCA SULEJMANOVIC

The constitutive session of the Belgrade City Assembly is scheduled for Monday, February 19. However, as no party will likely be able to form a government, repeat elections in the capital are expected.

“Due to the resolution of the European Parliament and other intergovernmental pressures, and more because of the fear of what will happen within the [city] government itself, [Serbian President Aleksandar] Vucic will probably go for the option of repeating the Belgrade elections,” political analyst Cvijetin Milivojevic told BIRN.

Confirmation of the mandate of city assembly councillors, the election of a president and the appointment of a secretary are foreseen at the session, the temporary governing body of the city decided in January.

Dobrica Veselinovic, from the Green-Left Front, a member of Serbia against Violence, told N1 television on Thursday that the opposition will “use all possible mechanisms that day so that the session does not take place and the Assembly is not constituted“.

Veselinovic did not disclose what opposition MPs will do, claiming they have “a good plan”.

Previously, the Serbian parliament’s sconstitutive session on February 6 was held in a tense atmosphere. After taking the oath – which opposition MPs did in the hall – the session was adjourned, without the election of a speaker and his/her deputies.

According to the official results of the December elections, in the Belgrade assembly, no party has a majority. The list of Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, won 49 seats and the opposition Serbia Against Violence coalition won 43. The NADA coalition won seven seats, while the Serbian Socialist Party, SPS, won five, while Branimir Nestorovic’s We – Voice of the People won six seats.

Dr Nestorovic’s support could prove vital in the formation of an administration in Belgrade.

The right-wing pulmonologist-turned-politician has insisted, however, that he will not enter a coalition with any of the main political forces, suggesting that new elections might be needed.

The opposition in January submitted a request to the Constitutional Court for the cancellation of the Belgrade elections, but the court has not ruled yet.

The European Parliament last week adopted a Resolution which called for an investigation “by respected international legal experts and institutions” into irregularities reported during and after elections. The resolution highlighted alleged irregularities in the Belgrade elections.

A man casts his ballot during the parliamentary and local elections in Belgrade, Serbia, 17 December 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/MARKO DJOKOVIC

Although Milivojevic believes the Belgrade election will be re-run, he says the SNS’s justification for this will not be irregularities, but the impossibility of forming a government.

“Vucic will not allow himself to say ‘I will cancel the election because we stole it’, but will say, ‘I will repeat the elections because Nestorovic’s party will not support us’. That is the most elegant way out,” said Milivojevic.

In that scenario, the problem is “whether there is enough time to fix electoral irregularities, to prevent them, to edit the voters’ list and to improve the media conditions”, he added.

If the election is re-run, Milivojevic doesn’t believe the SNS will win more votes than in December.

“Nestorovic could win more votes if he remains principled and does not play on the wave of the authorities … All of his voters are absolutely opposition voters … They are probably voters who were not satisfied with the fact that the national part of the opposition did not unite,” Milivojevic said.

Milivojevic added that there are other less possible scenarios for the first session of the Belgrade Assembly.

“There is also an option to repeat what we saw in 2022 when, despite the opposition having more votes than the ruling coalition, [former Mayor and president of Temporary goverment body Aleksandar] Sapic actually buys and transforms the electoral will by buying a few councillors from opposition lists,” said Milivojevic.

The city government could also try to avoid holding a session on Monday. Milivojevic notes that Sapic scheduled the session on the same as a court hearing in a lawsuit for damages against his reputation by Milojevic.

“The judge … scheduled the hearing based on Sapic’s lawsuit against me for February 19 … Is he intentionally obstructing his obligation to appear at the hearing … or not to hold the session?” Milivojevic pondered.