There is still no official epilogue to the post-election chaos in Nis, although, according to the results of the Nis GIK, the SNS won the most mandates. The representatives of the opposition claim that it is a question of calculations that go against all logic, they file appeals and exhaust all legal means in order to fight for victory.
The City Election Commission in Niš made a decision on the preliminary results for the election of councilors in the City Assembly of Niš, according to which the coalition gathered around the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won the most mandates.
According to those results, the coalition gathered around SNS won 30 mandates, the citizens' group "Dr. Dragan Milić" 16, the "Biramo Niš" coalition 10, the "Kreni promeni" movement and the "United - Hope for Niš" coalition won two each, and the minority The Russian party has one mandate, according to the report from the GIK Niš session published on the website of the RIK.
Milić: "There is no agreement with SNS"
However, what kind of majority can we talk about if, as claimed by Dr. Dragan Milić, the opposition that went to the elections on June 2 in this city won over 3.000 more votes than the coalition gathered around the SNS?
Milić told the ruling parties in last night's guest appearance on the show Utisak nedelje that "this is the right moment for them to admit reality."
"I will cite the example of polling stations 10 and 18. At polling station number 10, the number of the total number of ballots has been changed to 854, while there were 841 ballots in the original." There were 13 more ballots inserted and it is clear that they were rewritten for the Russian party... So this party has seven votes above the census," said Dr. Milić.
When asked if his group of citizens can finally agree with the SNS on joint government, Dr. Milić said that they and the SNS can already agree tonight on the progressives admitting the electoral defeat.
"What should I agree on?" Joint government? About what? With people who were proud and who destroyed our city? Do you think I'm entitled to that? We can agree today or tomorrow to admit defeat," said Dr. Milić in "Impression of the Week" on TV Nova.
Milić believes that protests are an outdated form of struggle, that the people will no longer take to the streets because so many protests have so far yielded no results.
"There won't be those protests they talk about like that." "There will be no bloody heads in Nis, just as no window will break," he concludes.
As for the opposition political parties, due to their poor election results, he believes that they should be "rebranded and recomposed".
The Niš opposition submitted appeals to the High Court
In the meantime, the legal teams of the Nis opposition did not sit idly by, but yesterday submitted appeals against the GIK decision, which will be decided by the High Court in the next 72 hours. After that, they say, they will decide on further steps.
As for possible protests, they state that they have a plan and strategy for that as well, but that they still want to exhaust all legal options.
They want to believe that the High Court will return objections to the City Election Commission's decision and "force" it to act in accordance with the law.
"GIK continues its obstruction. Using the terror of the majority, they dismissed the objections. Of course, they did not go into the essence. We stated that there was rewriting, that is, falsification of the minutes. Then, there were more ballots than the number determined by inspection of the electoral roll. These are serious violations of the electoral process", says za Southern news Miloš Nešić from the Biramo Niš coalition.
When it comes to possible protests, Dušan Anđelković from Kreni-promeni did not strongly reject this option like Dr. Milić, but said that the opposition will try to use all legal means before that, but that there are strategies and plans if that fails.
The lifeline for democracy loosened
Political analyst Boško Jakšić tells "Vreme" that the current turmoil in Niš is proof that the Serbian Progressive Party is nowhere ready to hand over power.
"I think that what is happening in Niš is shameful and a confirmation of the SNS's enormous appetite for power." They are not ready to hand over power anywhere and respect the will of the people," Jakšić claims.
Niš describes it as a missed opportunity to normalize the political scene and believes that a bigger conflict will occur at some point.
"These election results were supposed to indicate homogeneity in society. However, Vučić makes a farce out of them and thus deepens the divisions".
He believes that a more radical struggle and protests would also not solve the situation in Nis, because the government is used to citizen uprisings in the past year.
"Nevertheless, legal solutions and the 'Gandhi struggle' also fail because all institutions, judges, police and prosecutors are on the side of the government." That is why the explanation that the complaints written by the legal teams are unclear is ridiculous," concludes Jakšić.
He does not see the reaction of the international community as an option this time, even though it would be a "lifeline for democracy".
There is no end in sight to the struggle of the opposition in Nis for the mandates won. Internal turmoil over whether protests should be organized at all can be sensed.
In the meantime, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has already ruled that all ballots have been reviewed and that "everything is as written everywhere."
Economist Milojko Arsić expects a drop in employment in companies that operated with the support of the outgoing government. For Vreme, he talks about how to save jobs and what threatens public finances due to the debts of the city of Belgrade and Telekom
The student movement and future MPs are seeking an agreement on who decides on the composition and program of the new Government, writes "Vreme" in its new issue. While the consultations are ongoing, the program of more than a thousand pages is already ready
For Aleksandar Vučić, the consequences of the change of his government will be economic collapse, departure of foreign investors from Serbia, mass layoffs, jeopardy of pension payments, instability of the banking system, spread of crime. All in all - a cataclysm
In the midst of the arrests of politicians and businessmen after the defeat of the Aleksandar Vučić regime in the elections, the controversial businessman Zvonko Veselinović traveled to Turkey.
The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade rejects the report of the Supreme Public Prosecution Commission as "malicious" and "baseless", accusing its members of exceeding their powers and intimidating prosecutors.
At the moment when the institutions of the Republic are destroyed, when Vučić's octopus is still alive, when people are disgusted by the injustice and the stench left behind by the Essenes regime, we have, as Machiavelli said, only civic virtue as the fuel with which we can return to the beginning
The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub Šabić even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over
Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system
Interview: Branko Stamenković, public prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office
A black picture and the breakdown of the rule of law subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
See all
