November opposition coalition: Together for the elections

 
The opposition coalition consisting of the SSP, NS and DS announced today, Friday, November 26, that they will stand together in the 2022 elections. There are also the PSG, the Movement for Overturn, the Union of Harmony, the Movement of Free Serbia, which will be on the SSP's quotas, respectively People's parties. The Assembly of Free Serbia will join them.

It was easiest for them to agree on the most indisputable - Marinika Tepić. All researches recognize Marinika as the most respected face of the opposition. In the difficult negotiations of the opposition trinity, this decision seems to be the only one that passed without objections or commas. Maybe the opposition will regret in a month or so why Marinika Tepić did not run for mayor of Belgrade. Tepić enjoys a great reputation in Serbia, so it is probably estimated that he is the first place on the parliamentary list - the best for everyone.

The leaders of the tripartite coalition understood another message from the public opinion survey: citizens want a united opposition front. Which is not at all costs one column, but it is an agreement in the widest possible opposition front. At the press conference, Zoran Lutovac said that the list is not complete and that the association should gather as wide a circle of people as possible.

At this point it is clear that there will be more columns. If they are rational, it will not prevent the opposition leaders from rallying around a common presidential candidate and a post-election coalition agreement. From the NDBG and Zajedno za Serbia, which will appear with the Ecological Uprising in the green-left column, there have been several messages that they are ready to support a joint presidential candidate and that the post-election coalition with the bloc consisting of the SSP-NS-DS is as far as they are concerned. a done deal.

Choosing a joint presidential candidate for Dragan Đilas, Vuk Jeremic and Zoran Lutovac is the most difficult decision. They need someone capable of being president but also brave enough to accept the position of loser in undemocratic electoral conditions, someone who is ready to make sacrifices, strengthen the opposition electorate and come out as the opposition winner of the pre-lost presidential race. A difficult task.

There was enough time for everyone to express themselves about Zdravko Ponoš as a possible candidate, whom many in opposition and diplomatic circles saw as a man worthy of such a position. Ponoš, now there is no doubt, was in the worst position with his boss Jeremic, not only because his candidacy seemed imposed from outside (they say, from Đilas' SSP), but also because in the case of Ponoš's candidacy, the leader of the Narodniks would hardly be able to is held at the helm of the party.

That's why General Ponoš decided to leave the presidency of the NS and not to run in the party elections next month for the vice president of the party.

Vuk Jeremić did not want to at the press conference on the unification of the so-called opposition boycott answers to questions about the conflict with Zdravko Ponoš. He said that it is "fake news", that Miroslav Aleksić will play a key role in the next elections and that all personnel decisions will be known after the party assembly. It is clear that Ponoš will not be among them because he resigned from the leadership of the party the day before.

When it comes to the candidate for the presidential elections, the so-called a compromise solution. The plan is to measure the ratings of several potential candidates proposed by SSP, NS and DS. The names of potential candidates and the results of the research will not be known to the public, as we learn from the People's Party.

"The public will not soon find out the name of the opposition's candidate for the presidential elections," NS vice-president Miroslav Aleksić, second on the republican list and a key player of the NS according to the head of the party, told Vreme.

Paradoxically, the opposition at the moment seems the furthest away from an agreement for the Belgrade elections. Where, according to research, they have the best chances - they do not yet have a candidate. As "Vreme" learns, in the last day or two, the details of the Belgrade list were agreed upon. And there will supposedly be more candidates "with the testing of public opinion".

SSP Vice President Borko Stefanović says that the most important thing is to defend the right of citizens to choose freely, "to provide controllers and defend the results".

Be that as it may, the final agreement of the opposition on a joint appearance in the April elections next year will remain in the shadow of Ponoš's decision to withdraw from the leadership of the People's Party. Ponoš remains in NS because, as he says, he does not want to split the party before the elections.

Why not, it is by the way the favorite pre-election sport of the opposition champions in the Serbs.