The coalition "We choose the fight" is between two fires - "natural enemies" who are acting under the banner of Aleksandar Vučić and a smaller part of the opposition that is trying until the last hour to prove that going to the elections is a mistake, although there is no point in doing so. Six parties - the Green-Left Front, the Democratic Party, the Movement of Free Citizens, the People's Movement of Serbia, the Ecological Uprising and the New Face of Serbia - agreed that a boycott of the June 2 local elections would mean handing over power to the Serbian Progressive Party with its satellites without a fight for the next four years.
The opposition parties, which initially advocated loudly and later somewhat more quietly for the boycott, mostly abandoned it themselves in most local communities, except in Belgrade, where the chances of the opposition's victory, despite all the malfeasance and abuses of the progressive regime, were the highest.
In Belgrade, in front of "Biramo Beograd" is candidate for mayor Dobrica Veselinović from the Green-Left Front, who in the campaign is trying to shake confused opposition voters out of apathy and explain to them that change is within reach, if only they go to their polling stations and vote.
"As we said at the beginning of the campaign, it is the same at the very end: the 'We Choose Belgrade' coalition is going to the elections on December 17 to win." We chose to go to the elections and fight because every freed city and municipality represents a step in the right direction," says Veselinović for Vreme.
He explains that disempowering the criminal regime, which has been building its infrastructure for more than a decade, is a long and complicated process that must start from local communities, be they in Novi Sad, Valjevo, Užice, Niš, Voždovac, or any other city, town or municipality. .
That is why he invites everyone to help them in this fight.
The municipal government can do a lot
Change starts from below, was the campaign slogan back in 2018.
"From then until the last elections, once 'We are not drowning Belgrade' now 'Green Left Front', as well as other colleagues from the Democratic Party, the Movement of Free Citizens, the Ecological Mouth, the People's Movement of Serbia and the New Face of Serbia, have built organizations, achieved in the elections in December, the opposition's best result since the SNS came to power 12 years ago. And that in spite of all the obstructions, violence, abuses, malfeasance. And that's just the beginning. Imagine what we will do in the coming period", says Veselinović.
Municipalities and cities represent the first contact of citizens with the administration, they can change many things in the lives of ordinary citizens and help them.
"It is important that we all work together on how our neighborhoods, blocks, local communities will look like." It is important that we choose, and it is important that we fight," says Veselinović.
What will they do in Belgrade?
In Belgrade, first of all, they want to change the relationship between the authorities and the citizens, because it is unacceptable that the current mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić, who would like to be the mayor again, "steals phones from citizens, builds illegally, is involved in many corruption scandals, has a plagiarized doctorate".
"Belgrade needs an administration that understands it, that loves Belgrade and wants to create a city of solidarity, empathy and love." Many will say that these are things that cannot be felt, but they are a prerequisite for good management.
On the other hand, our plan includes the opening and revision of all harmful contracts, as well as the initiation of lawsuits and proceedings before domestic and foreign courts, so that those responsible for the situation in the city can finally be fairly prosecuted," says Veselinović.
As far as catastrophic urban traffic is concerned, the plan of the coalition "We choose the fight" is to optimize the network of public transport lines and departures, by introducing high-speed express lines, expanding the network of yellow lanes, investing in rail systems and expanding the network of tram tracks and increasing tram traffic, as and the extension of BG train lines, provide the citizens of Belgrade with guaranteed arrival from home to work in 30 minutes.
Construction of kindergartens and improvement of air quality
"And thirdly", Veselinović enumerates what he will do immediately if the citizens trust him, "a topic of enormous importance is solving the chronic lack of places in kindergartens, for which there is money, but not the political will, because the ruling party's policy is to subsidize private kindergartens and this sector is slowly being left to the private sector. Our plan is to respond to the needs of the citizens and urgently build state kindergartens in Stepojevac, Mirijevo, the Stepa Stepanović settlement, Sremčica, in Lazarevac, blocks 61 and 8a, as well as extensive investments in better maintenance and reconstruction of existing kindergartens, tidying up tree groves, and above all, the improvement of the material and financial position of the employees", says Veselinović.
Through the initiation of extensive energy efficiency projects, subsidizing citizens to replace bad individual fireplaces, as well as by sanctioning polluters, they want to ensure that "the air in Belgrade cannot be seen".
Changes are very possible and the majority of Belgraders want to see the back of the progressive government, Veselinović is convinced. Only on June 2 should they go to their polling station and vote for those who want to work in their interests, not in the interests of investors close to SNS.
