U Negotin, Mionici and Sečnje local elections are held on November 30. Voters' lists have been closed, and the campaign on both sides is well under way.
After Zajecar and Kosjeric, this will be the second cycle of local elections in Serbia since a deep social crisis occurred after the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad on November 1 last year, so voting in these three local governments will also have more weight.
Students lead the "United for Mionica" list
"United for Mionica" will be the first electoral list led by students. The list was supported by some representatives of political organizations in Mionica, some of whom are also on the list, and it was supported by students in the blockade from Belgrade.
The holder of that list, twenty-three-year-old student Stefan Kostić, tells "Vreme" that the atmosphere before the elections is "tense", but that "changes can be felt in the air".
"People have recognized the right side. We have prepared controllers. We are also preparing for that day. We assume that it will be difficult and tense, but we think optimistically. We are not afraid of anyone or anything. If there are any problems, we must inform the police and competent authorities," he says.
The campaign, he explains, is conducted in several directions:
"We go from house to house, that's the most important thing for us. It's difficult to visit all 36 villages, but I think it's very important, because we have to reach people who don't use the networks, who get information through the regime's media. We run another type of campaign through the media and social networks, and it works well for us. Besides, whenever we can, we put out a stand in Mionica, organize forums and some other activities."
SNS, SPS, PUPS and SRS together in Mionica
In Mionica, the list nominated by SNS "Aleksandar Vučić – Best for Mionica" will be the first on the ballot. Within this coalition led by Boban Janković, the SNS, SPS, PUPS and SRS are participating in the elections together.
Kostić says that the campaign, on the other hand, is conducted using already established methods.
"These are asphalting of the streets, distribution of food packages to the elderly and promises. They also have some people who came from the side and who also go from house to house. We do it as citizens of Mionica and as students from the list, while they bring people from the side for that," he adds.
Three more lists will appear in front of the people of Mion, "Image and knowledge against corruption and crime by Milan Gavrilović - Ćićovan", "For saving and rebuilding the villages of Mion - Radovan Rade Marković - Mirko Jović", as well as the minority "BUNT - True Serbia".
United opposition in Negotin
In the elections in Negotin, the largest of these three municipalities, four electoral lists will appear before the citizens.
On the "United for Negotin" list, there are representatives of opposition parties, among them the People's Movement of Serbia, the Freedom and Justice Party and SRCE. One of the candidates of "United for Negotin", Miloš Milošević from the SSP, tells "Vreme" that the negotiations on the unification of the opposition took a long time, but that everything flowed naturally.
"We are a small place, but we all have the same goal, which is to establish a good administration. It all went without major problems," says Milošević.
He adds that in Negotin, opposition forces are on the ground, talking to people and offering them potential solutions.
"On the other hand, the official campaign is in full swing. Almost every day we have a visit from one or two ministers. Over two hundred of their activists are on the ground, handing out gifts, ensuring safe votes," he says.
And in Negotin, number one will be the coalition "Aleksandar Vučić - Best for Negotin", which consists of candidates from SNS, SPS, PUPS and SRS.
Milošević says that a large part of the work on potential irregularities has already been done.
"We provided many controllers. Regardless of the small number of voters, there are many polling stations in Negotin, as many as 72. We found controllers for almost all of them. That will be crucial on election day because in Negotin there is a huge difference between the number of registered voters and the number of inhabitants, so the government has a reservoir from which it can steal votes. Only good control can solve that," he says.
Apart from them, the lists "Europe and young people - For our Negotin" and "Serbian liberals - For the green Negotin" are running for the elections in Negotin.
The government in several columns in Sečnje
Unlike Negotin and Mionica, in Sečnje the ruling coalition will come out in several columns.
The first of the five registered lists will be "Aleksandar Vučić - Best for Sečanj", which includes only SNS candidates. Below them on the ballot will be the SPS list "Ivica Dacic - Socialist Party of Serbia - For the municipality of all of us".
The third is the list "Vukašin Baćina - For a better municipality of Sečanj", submitted by a group of citizens "For a better municipality of Sečanj". Then there is "Voice of the youth that changes Sečanj" by the citizen group of the same name and at the end of the paper "Dr. Vojislav Šešelj - Serbian Radical Party".
Another important local election in Serbia
The local elections in Zaječar and Kosjerić were a leading political issue at the level of the entire country. Due to growing student and citizen dissatisfaction after the tragedy in Novi Sad and the fact that SNS holds power in almost all municipalities in Serbia, voting in those two cities was of broader political significance.
In the end, with a series of electoral irregularities in and around the polling stations, a slight majority was won by the SNS coalition.
For the same reasons, a similar atmosphere is expected on election day in the three municipalities where voting will take place on November 30. This is especially the case in Negotin and Mionica, where, as in Zaječar and Kosjerić, more widely gathered opposition lists will appear.
