The People's Movement of Serbia announced that Slavica Radovanović has left the party.
"The National Movement of Serbia hereby informs the public that we learned about Slavica Radovanović's decision to leave the party initially from Milenko Jovanov, Nebojsa Bakarec and the regime media. The news arrived at the exact moment when her colleagues were fighting with the police in front of the Novi Sad court for unjustly arrested activists and responsibility for the murder of 15 people. In those moments, unfortunately, she decided to do other things," the NPS statement said.
The party states that "it is an interesting coincidence that she announced this decision before the disciplinary proceedings initiated against her by the party were completed due to the interference of personal interests that are not in agreement with the actions of our party."
"We are grateful to Ms. Radovanović for her work so far and we regret that she chose the path that violates the trust that the citizens have placed in her." Accordingly, we invite her to return her parliamentary mandate because she owes so much to the citizens and the party that nominated her," they state.
"It's a lie that I left because of a conflict"
Radovanović spoke out after this announcement. She says that the reason she left the party was not a disagreement or a conflict with NPS president Miroslav Aleksić, but that she could not agree with certain decisions that "related to her".
"I could not agree with some of the decisions and actions of Aleksić's closest associates, which were related to me," Radovanović told the N1 portal.
She added that the attitude of Aleksić's associates towards her was unpleasant and that she was attacked for various things. "These are lies, I am not working to bring down Miroslav Aleksić, nor am I influencing the bad rating of the party," Radovanović pointed out.
She also says that on Wednesday she submitted a letter to the National Assembly's clerk's office informing her that she was leaving the NPS parliamentary group, and that it was misused and immediately handed over to the Serbian Progressive Party.
"Everything that I left the previous party for and everything that I am fighting against the government has over time manifested itself to the full extent in this party that I am leaving. It is no longer a party in which I will find my ideals. Maybe I won't find them in a future action, but at least I'll try. The NPS has now become a party without a vision, mission and goal with a marked lack of a reason for existence," she wrote on her Facebook account.
About disciplinary proceedings
The NPS also stated in a statement that Radovanović left the party before "the disciplinary proceedings initiated against her due to the interference of personal interests that are not in agreement with the party's actions were completed."
She, however, rejects such allegations and points out that she learned from the announcement that disciplinary proceedings are being conducted against her. She adds that she does not know the reasons for which proceedings would be conducted against her, and that so far no one has mentioned it to her.
Radovanović refused the NSP's invitation to return the parliamentary mandate and said that she will remain an independent MP, but that she will join the group of four MPs who left the Freedom and Justice Party in the past period.
Who is Slavica Radovanovic?
In her official biography, she states that she graduated from the Higher School of Internal Affairs, and at the Faculty of Defectology in Belgrade, she obtained the title of graduate special pedagogue.
She worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for 33 years on crime prevention, police training in the Police Directorate for the city of Belgrade, and then in the Education Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
From 2013 until her retirement in 2021, she was an official member of the MUP delegation in the negotiations for accession to the European Union for Chapters 23 and 24. After her retirement, she became part of the team of the Center for Missing and Abused Children.
In the 2022 parliamentary elections, she was 22nd on the list of "Marinika Tepić - United for the Victory of Serbia" and became a deputy in the Parliament of Serbia, a member of the parliamentary club of the People's Party.
In August 2023, she moved to the newly formed parliamentary group "People's Movement of Serbia - New Face of Serbia", and the following month she became part of the parliamentary group "People's Movement of Serbia - Ecological Uprising - New Face of Serbia".
In the parliamentary elections held in December 2023, as the ninth on the list "Serbia against violence - Miroslav Miki Aleksić - Marinika Tepić", she was elected as a member of Parliament of Serbia.
