In considering how to oppose the regime, in the eternal speculation about the number of "columns", the student movement remained consistent - from the beginning to the end they stuck to the idea of their list. She is, without a doubt, the strongest player on the opposition political scene.
Why, then, is prominent oppositionist Miroslav Aleksić, MP and president of the National Movement of Serbia (NPS), still calling for a "joint list" of all those who are against the government? Didn't that ship sail? He says that experience teaches him that, and that if there is not one list, it can at least be coordinated.
"Because we don't have the conditions for normal elections, and they won't be a determination for political ideologies and programs anyway, but a turning point for the future of Serbia - will this be a country of justice, law, system and responsibility, will it be a democratic country or will it continue to plunge deeper into autocracy and dictatorship in the clutches of the mafia," Aleksić says at the beginning of the interview for "Vreme".
During the conversation, it becomes clear that the opposition will have several different columns, given the silent and never-explained split among pro-European parties, some of which support students, some already have their own "column" around the Freedom and Justice Party, and some, like the NPS, only know that they will go to the elections, but they need to see how.
WEATHER: You have seen the working and even shorter version of the Student List. Obviously, that list is being completed and there is no question of a single list with the opposition. Why do you still invoke that unity?
MIROSLAV ALEKSIĆ: The student movement is a political movement that will participate in elections with the aim of coming to power. They have every right to make their own lists and programs. Political parties have the same right. But I think it is an obligation and responsibility, mine and the NPS, to point out what we think should be done, especially from the aspect of missed chances.
First of all, I am thinking of the beginning of last year when we called for a transitional expert government and elections, which were supposed to happen by the fall of last year. This was not generally accepted, so the government began to consolidate despite the largest rebellion in history. We need to talk so that we don't repeat the mistakes and regret again.
Therefore, I do not want me, as the president of the opposition party, to enter the student list. If the students have completed the list, it does not prevent us from being allies, from having the necessary coordination. Citizens should make their choice easier and resources should be unified. A number of citizens want to vote for the opposition and without that body it will not be possible to overthrow the regime. We will face unprecedented pressures and attempts to steal, so we must be comrades. Students have every right to choose which of the political parties they want as partners, and then let those parties use what they have - experience and seats in electoral committees.
We know how things go., everyone knows someone who knows someone. I guess that's how you tried to make contact with the students. How did it go??
And last year we had a round table where we invited representatives of the student movement and civil society, so we came up with a proposal regarding the voter list. We had great communication with the students at the local elections...
I'm not asking about what we know., but why there are no coordination talks that you publicly call for?
I understand the students, they entered a complex field. This is not a normal environment for political activity and life. They are under pressure from the public, social networks and now in the cacophony they need to make the right or at least bad decision. In that environment, although they understand our arguments, it is very difficult for them to make a U-turn.
However, I believe that before the elections they will be ready to discuss the way of cooperation because we have the same goal. I suggested that people from the opposition should not participate in the executive power at all, that the Student List should propose the first expert government, and that we should support them from the parliament. So there are ways.
What does the draft student list look like to you??
I would not like to judge the list, since students have the right to choose people. It seems to me that there is room for talks with some opposition parties because, if that is the list, there are people there who deviate from the basic principles defined by the students.
You mean that some were in parties?
Yes, we can say so, and some of them were also in positions.
Several parties supported the students "bezuslovno", a few are sure to go to the polls. Why is NPS somewhere in between??
We are not in between. We made a decision at the Main Board that we will be an active participant. We have participated practically every time since the founding of the party. Great damage was done when some colleagues boycotted part of the local elections in June 2024, so the opposition did not win power in some cities. I see no reason for a political entity that has an idea, a goal and a program not to participate in the fight despite the conditions, because this government will never give us fair elections unless we make at least a breakthrough with the help of the international community.
photo: marija janković...
You say , if there is no unique list with students, the best is the widest possible opposition column. What is wrong with the logic advocated by, say, Dragan Đilas that there is a pro-European column for citizens who want such an option?
In the next elections, citizens will not declare themselves based on ideology, but on who is for Serbia and who is for the usurping regime. Serbia will win only if the criminalized regime loses. Only in the next step will we be able to decide ideologically.
Even when we talk about the pro-European column, we had several meetings to which I invited - there were nine parties, so the Green-Left Front decided to support the students and eight remained. All are undoubtedly pro-European. I see no reason for that front to be reduced even though everyone has the right to decide how they will participate in the elections. But, he has no right to hold the deed on who is a pro-European party.
Who holds the title deed??
A number of parties came out in a narrower format. We learned that from the media.
You mean the Freedom and Justice Party, HEART, Movement of free citizens and Solidarity movement?
Of course, we saw from the media that they are creating a pro-European platform. It's legit. But the attitude of the NPS is to bring together, not to divide.
What is left for you??
We have a long-standing cooperation with the New Face of Serbia, Miloš Parandilović, with Dr. Dragan Milić, we exercise power in the Niš municipality of Medijana, and we are partners. The same applies to the Ecological Uprising of Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta. We will see the final formula for the elections, but we strive for the widest possible column and we want to see everyone as allies.
That suggests at least three opposition columns, next to the Student List... The final exploration of the Line sees the students on their way to absolute victory, and the opposition parties individually as a statistical error. Admittedly, NPS is among the strongest with 2,2 percent. Do you believe that research?
We do our own monthly surveys, every serious party should do them. The trends have been clear since last autumn, so they are confirmed now - the majority of citizens are against the regime. Second, the Student List has the largest support among the opposition formats, but not enough to topple the regime.
Even in Crta's research, it is stated that thirty percent of citizens, who agreed to participate in the survey, do not know who they will vote for, will not say or plan not to vote. It is a reservoir that must be reached. The point is not whether the NPS will have this much or that much, but that no opposition vote should be wasted.
In April, you referred to some of your information and said that the elections would "almost certainly" to be 12. July. Try again to guess when it will be.
I said that as my opinion. Everything pointed to that because the government started a campaign. They probably postponed the elections because they didn't see the numbers they needed in the polls, and then the murder in Senjak happened to them.
Now it really seems that the elections will be by the end of the year. It seems to me that parliamentary and presidential can be separately or together, and can be only one or the other. Everything is on the table. Unfortunately, only one person is asking about this because of the missed opportunities in the previous year and a half.
Who could be Vučić's candidate for president??
Vučić does not have a good candidate nor can he find one. Whoever he nominates, he will not be able to oppose the opposition candidate. For a decade and a half, the progressives built a cult of Vučić's personality, and that cult cannot be transferred to another person. Especially since Vučić's rating also dropped drastically, so he wouldn't win in the first round either.
That is why they announce parliamentary elections before presidential elections. Probably with the idea that they can win, so on that wave they go to the presidential race and keep that position. It will be difficult for them to succeed in this calculation, but the anti-regime front must not allow itself a moment of relaxation. It will be a big fight and we have to be ready for anything. They will use beating formations, the apparatus of force, usurped institutions and the media to protect the seats at any cost.
Success will be if no one loses their head in the elections. That's how they divided Serbia to beat brother against brother and neighbor against neighbor. It will be a relic of Vučić's rule.
The President of Serbia said that he would "an hour or two" from the closing of the polls to congratulate the winners if they lose. Do you believe that??
Vučić can only tell the truth by accident. We were convinced of his pathological lies - he said that it never occurred to him to run for president, and now he is completing his second term. The regime rests on lies and matchmaking. I only believe that we will have to gather all our strength, aware that the government will not give anything voluntarily. But I believe that the international community will monitor the electoral process. In the end, our victory must be convincing.
photo: marija janković...
The Prosecutor's Office acts on the subject of the alleged coup d'état and "sonic cannon". Military analyst Aleksandar Radić is wanted, his correspondence with journalists was published, otherwise banal and routine. How far will the government go??
What is happening to Aleksandar Radić, and before that to many other students and citizens, only shows how the government will behave if it survives. This repression and retaliation will be unprecedented in the recent history of Serbia. The sound cannon procedure is an insult to intelligence. Everyone saw what happened, we caught them in a lie that they didn't have a sound cannon, and now they want to tell us that nothing happened. They belittle us.
But everything is possible when you have a judiciary that works in the interest of the ruling party. And around the sound cannon and Senjak and earlier Jovanjica, where it also turns out that there were no drugs. It's a shameless campaign by the regime, an attempt to wash themselves in front of the voters who voted for them before and now don't want to anymore.
But those citizens can report all wrongdoings to the president's portal "Who the hell are you??”.
With that portal, Vučić confirms that no institution is working. Rather, for propaganda reasons, he will now pressurize the officials, whom he appointed himself, and who are not doing their job, to supposedly solve the problems of the citizens. It is shameful and shows all the incompetence of Vučić to manage the country.
A year and a half ago, NPS created its anti-corruption team and invited people to contact us. Hundreds of complaints came in, we combed through them all and filed hundreds of criminal charges.
Recently, your party presented economic measures. You say that the average salary over four years can be close to 1.500 Euro. Well, isn't Serbia, How do you usually talk?, in charge, broken, robbed, colonized?
In order to get Serbia back on its feet, we need a team of serious experts, a program and measures. The NPS created the book "Serbia Tomorrow" - the development program until 2030 and until 2035 - on which our experts worked. There we stated that in four or five years Serbia can raise the standard of living, develop the domestic economy and solve the debt problem.
A prerequisite is a total suppression of corruption, because annually between two and three billion euros go into the pockets of people in power. Let's not talk about wasting money through public procurement or how to manage resources, copper, gold and others.
There are ways to save and invest in health, education, agriculture, the sector of small entrepreneurs... All this can be done with household behavior and good measures if the state and government work for the citizens, and not like today when everything is subordinated to a small elite of the enormously rich. We want a state of equal people.
