SPO Skips October Election, Expels Cotric and Jugovic

The presidency of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) announced today, September 12, that the party will not run in the early parliamentary election called for October 25 and will instead back the Students’ List. At the same session, the presidency expelled two sitting lawmakers, Aleksandar Cotric and Aleksandar Jugovic, from the party.

The party’s reasoning for staying out of the race is that a standalone SPO run would only split the votes needed to bring about a change of government.

“Taking into account all the circumstances and the party president’s report on the talks he has held with various political actors in recent months, the SPO presidency believes our party should not take part in the upcoming early parliamentary election. We are for change, but we believe our participation in the October election would only contribute to splitting the votes needed to achieve the change we want,” the SPO said in its statement.

The decision came after SPO president Aleksandar Cvetkovic briefed the presidency on talks he had held with various political actors in recent months. Under the party’s Statute, the final say on how SPO takes part in the election rests with the Main Board, which is expected to make that call in the coming days, based on the president’s proposal. In other words, the presidency’s position is not yet SPO’s last word.

What happens to Cotric and Jugovic

According to Nova.rs, the same presidency session was also used to expel sitting lawmakers Cotric and Jugovic from SPO’s membership, with the party citing “repeated, gross violations of the SPO Statute.” The statement did not specify what triggered the expulsions.

Sources differ, however, on how the session actually unfolded. N1, which reported on the Students’ List endorsement an hour after Nova.rs, does not mention the expulsion of Cotric and Jugovic at all in its report, even though it carries the same statement on skipping the election and backing the students.

With this move, SPO becomes yet another party lining up behind the Students’ List ahead of the October 25 election. Serbian news outlets had earlier reported that the Green-Left Front and the Democratic Party announced the same step, making SPO’s decision part of that same trend, with the difference that it comes alongside a personnel purge inside the party itself.

Responsibility lies primarily with the government, SPO says

The presidency opened its statement by saying that the polarization of Serbian society has reached worrying levels in recent years.

“Responsibility for such an atmosphere in the country lies with all political actors, but the greatest responsibility, given their influence on society, certainly lies with those in power. That is why we support the need for change in Serbia’s political system,” the statement reads.

From that assessment, SPO derives its support for the Students’ List, as well as its earlier calls for reforming the political system and the work of democratic institutions in Serbia. The party’s leadership also issued an appeal to future lawmakers, regardless of which list gets them elected.

“We call on all future lawmakers, regardless of which list they are elected from, to do everything possible to organize elections for a Constitutional Assembly very quickly, where we could all finally have the right to present our own ideas, political programs and visions for our country’s development, without fear of personal attacks, insults, and mutual disqualification,” SPO’s leadership said.

The party ties Serbia’s further path toward Europe and its relations with countries in the region to establishing the rule of law, saying this would allow Serbia, as a candidate for European Union membership, to give its citizens the same rights as other Europeans.

Under SPO’s own Statute, only a session of the Main Board now stands between the party and a final decision on how it will approach the October 25 election. SPO has not yet announced a date for that session.