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The irreconcilable positions of Vuk Jeremic’s People’s Party and Dragan Djilas’s Freedom and Justice Party on whether or not to cooperate with the opposition parties that went to the polls on the issue of electoral conditions, lead to the silent and inevitable extinction of the United Opposition of Serbia.
Photo: FoNet / TV FoNetAs they explain, the cessation of the work of the UOPS would not be a miracle since it never fully came to life, and was formed in August as a loose alliance and as a mask of supposed cooperation and unity after the completion of the Alliance for Serbia.
Formed two poles
Although there have been disagreements before, the boiling point is the lack of consensus, and the UOPS makes decisions that way, when it comes to cooperation with the rest of the opposition, especially with those parties that went to the polls on the 21st. of June.
Two poles were formed, one around the National Assembly and the other around the SAA.
The Popular Party believes that there should be no cooperation, not even in the electoral conditions that the UOPS must present independently to the authorities and mediators of the EP.
The Freedom and Justice Party, on the other hand, strives for cooperation and suggests that we should start with a blank sheet of paper and come up with common demands from the opposition.
At the last meeting, the DS offered a compromise, which advocates that UOPS harmonize its conditions and offer them to other opposition organizations.
No consensus has been reached on any of these proposals at UOPS, so the final decision has not been made, and the question is, according to our sources, whether it will.
During the last vote a few days ago, the majority of the members, as announced by the Free Serbia Movement, believe that UOPS should independently declare its position on the electoral conditions, without waiting for the consent or supervision of anyone.
In addition to the National Assembly, there is also the Civic Platform, the Sumadija region, the PSS, the Serbian State Building Movement and the Vojvodina Hungarian Democratic Union.
Three members opposed: the Movement for Change, the Democratic Party, the Freedom and Justice Party, and Djordje Vukadinovic abstained.
The People’s Movement of Kosovo and Metohija Serbs, Otađbina and the Sloga Trade Union did not comment on the proposal.
Ultimatum or lockdown
One side considers this situation an ultimatum that leads to burial in the trenches, and the other a blockade of the UOPS because some parties have changed positions.
Janko Veselinović, president of the Movement for Change, told Danas that this movement seeks the total unity of all the true opposition forces in the fight against this regime.
– A front is important to us when presenting our demands to the regime, but also when approaching the EU. Some don’t seem to think that. And they want fragmentation. That’s bad. No decision was made on the electoral conditions because one of the parties attended the meetings with predetermined positions, without the intention of any compromise. All the effort of others to compromise and make proposals almost identical to your ultimatum came down to that: we have a decision from our Main Board and we will not change it. The UOPS decision to draft and present the electoral conditions for free and fair elections was not debatable for anyone at UOPS, but an ultimatum that no one outside of UOPS can give suggestions and additions, but “accept them without changes or nothing.” Some UOPS members found this offensive to the rest of the opposition, including those who boycotted the elections and are not members of UOPS. PZP considered it unfair to offer something to someone according to the principle: take it or leave it. We believe that we must build and not destroy trust in all true subjects of opposition. On that front, we need everyone: parties, movements, associations, individuals … This is me or them and any burial in trenches by ideological criteria or of any other kind is not good – says Veselinović and adds that “some think that before The EU should go out with Ten different groups also demand that we behave like little children in these meetings. “
Wheat and straw
Miroslav Aleksić, vice president of the People’s Party, when asked what will happen in the future in the UOPS after this split, said that there were no new meetings due to the position of some members that certain organizations that went to the polls should be included in the drafting of the demands for free and fair elections. June elections.
– The UOPS was created as a body made up of organizations that boycotted the elections with the main objective reflected in the fight for fair electoral conditions, and we cannot fight for the conditions with those who demonstrated that their conditions were good enough in June to be leaving the elections. We must separate the wheat from the chaff so that the sacrifice we made with the boycott makes sense, as well as to keep our word and how that would pay off in the future in the fight against the regime that is destroying Serbia. Organizations that have changed their position and want to include those who went to the polls in the preparation of requests for fair elections practically keep UOPS blocked – explains Aleksić.
Asked whether the separation of the wheat from the chaff unites or destroys the opposition in these difficult circumstances, he replied that it is a question for those who have changed positions and are keeping UOPS under lockdown.
– We have already united around certain values in UOPS, I am against disintegration – says Aleksić. And to the position that the position of the National Assembly is an ultimatum for the others in the UOPS, he responds that the National Assembly did not deviate one millimeter from what the UOPS gathered.
– Then, the story about the ultimatum cannot go to the direction of the majority of the organizations that make up the UOPS and they do not change their position, but those that condition continue working on the requests must respond by including organizations for which Vucic collected signatures for the June elections – thinks Aleksic.
Big responsibility
DS President Zoran Lutovac responds to speculation for our article that DS and the SAA will continue to write requests independently. He says that he is consulting with the SAA and that he will take into account what the experts did a year and a half ago, as well as some specialized NGOs.
– The opposition has a great responsibility to support clearly defined demands for free and fair elections. It would be good if these requests were supported by as many relevant actors as possible, so that in return we would obtain the greatest possible support from the public and for these requests to be valid also in the international arena. The Democratic Party has made these demands on several occasions. It is about working them with colleagues from the opposition and all of us who are behind them – concludes Lutovac.
Rebellion: a new formula
“It would be good for all the opposition forces to focus their energy on providing conditions for free and fair elections, as the first step towards systemic changes in Serbia.” It is time for all of us, political parties, associations, movements and citizens, to fight in solidarity for what belongs to us, for our rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws of this country. And I repeat, if we do not fight for what belongs to us, this time I am not for a boycott, but for a rebellion. “Citizens have the right to rebel when their rights and freedoms are denied,” DS president Zoran Lutovac told Danas.
Before him, the leader of Dveri, Boško Obradović, again opposed the boycott, stating that if negotiations on fair electoral conditions fail, the elections should not be boycotted because that form of struggle peaked on June 21, but should use all non-parliamentary ways of fighting false elections. The leader of the Oslobodjenje movement, Mladjan Djordjevic, has been saying there will be no unfair elections for a long time, and recently SAA Vice President Borko Stefanovic has used the same wording.
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