Demostat Program Director Zoran Panovic says Branimir Nestorovics list, “We, a Voice from the People”, is affiliated with the Serbian Progressive Party. Panovic also says that Russia has no better partner than Aleksandar Vucic.
Demostat Program Director Zoran Panovic says Branimir Nestorovics list, “We, a Voice from the People”, is affiliated with the Serbian Progressive Party. Panovic also says that Russia has no better partner than Aleksandar Vucic.
"I also think that Branimir Nestorovi?s list has a connection with the ruling party, because it had a privileged media position in relation to other lists, which does not diminish their result”, Panovic said in the show “Between Us” on Nova S.
He also stated that the secret to the success of Dr. Nestorovics list is that they took the voters to the Zavetnici (Pledgers) and Dveri, as well as the Socialist Party of Serbia.
Panovic says that many right-wing voters vote thinking they are voting against the SNS and the authorities, but that in certain epilogues this is not so, and that Aleksandar Vucic still has a majority control package on the right and that it is still “quite decisive”.
When it comes to the Belgrade elections, Panovic says that President Vucic, if the new Belgrade elections are to be held, will present as a reason the impossibility of forming a new government in the capital, and not the fact that electoral pathology is at the heart of the problem.
He points out that the opposition did not manage to control the elections even in the December elections, but that unification and some kind of action unity proved to have an effect.
Thus, he states that the opposition made a solid result, because the leading opposition list, Serbia against violence, received more votes than the Democratic Party in 2012, and a little less than SNS in the same year.
Panovic states that Europe will also believe in Serbia against Violence if it does not disintegrate, if it continues to strengthen and make a stronger opposition alliance out of the coalition and avoid the mistakes made by the Alliance for Serbia, which collapsed when it had a chance to achieve something.
“Its the same as in 2012. When the Progressives in 2011 convinced Europe that they are a potential partner that offers security, stability and the implementation of a certain policy, they are recognized by the West as partners and have received clear support from the West and the EU”, he said.
Asked whether he believes that the opposition will get the support of the West for annulling the elections, Panovic said that he does not believe.
“There are certainly procedural objections, but it is obvious that the EUs actions were in favour of the authorities and this cannot be hidden”, he said.
However, he adds that with the two main partners, the United States and Russia, the actions of the authorities are not so bad.
“Russia has no better ally than Vucic. Dont forget that in 2019, on the occasion of a spy affair where the Russians were also incorporated, Vucic clearly told the ambassador of Russia - never again 1948. It is a powerful statement, music for Russian ears and a binding statement”, Panovic said.
Panovic says that the only way of the opposition is that Serbia against Violence to grow stronger, as the alliance.
“It is not easy to work in opposition on the ground, it is not easy to form committees in this atmosphere. It is much more difficult for the opposition now than for the Progressives and Radicals during DOS. The stronger, more organized the party, the more capable it is to resist pressure”, said Panovic, adding that even in the critical public, the kind of dogma that we do not need parties, but civic activism outside parties is slowly disappearing.
Panovic notes that the opposition lacks committees, membership, an organization without which there is no serious political struggle, nor control of elections, adding that people are poorly motivated to engage in politics, but that now, unlike in the nineties, they are employed and tied to work, and not on forced committees.
He also said Vucic is a master of fragmentation.
"It is like sulfuric acid, so solutions and dissections of all parties, mostly end up as small parts, irrelevant to a stronger action”, Panovic said.
Panovic said that there is a kind of post-election depression, but that there is always a cumulative effect, and that protests can be mass again.
Asked whether the protests affect the government, Panovic says that the government is trying to minimize the problem by ignoring it, but that Vucic knows what the problem of legitimacy in Belgrade is, which will exist even if the government of the SNS and their partners is made.
Speaking about the next moves of the opposition and whether they should accept or reject mandates, Panovic said that it has been shown that the opposition in Parliament is making a certain effect, because the Assembly is a strong panel, but added that the leaders of the opposition should be in Parliament.
“The issue of legitimacy will not be resolved once a government is formed. We do not dispute that the SNS would win elections in Serbia even in more normal electoral conditions, but not with such a difference and dominance”, Panovic said, adding that elections in Serbia are not normal because we are in the process of collapsing democracy, which has been quite noticeable since 2015”, says Panovic.
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