DS Calls on Djilas, Aleksic to Drop Their Lists
The Democratic Party has named Dragan Djilas and Miroslav Aleksic directly, calling on them to stop collecting signatures and back the Student List without conditions in the October 25 election.
On Sunday, September 13, the Democratic Party (DS) called on opposition lists for the second time to stop collecting signatures for the early parliamentary election on October 25 and to back the Student List without conditions. Unlike the earlier, general appeal, this time the call named names: Dragan Djilas, president of the Freedom and Justice Party, and Miroslav Aleksic, president of the People’s Movement of Serbia, along with representatives of every other formally opposition list. The statement was carried by the nova.rs portal at 2:32 PM.
DS points to long lines of citizens that, according to the party, formed in dozens of towns at the spots where signatures are being collected for the Student List.
“Collecting signatures is the first relevant and direct indicator of how citizens actually feel after the election was called. The result of that test is unambiguous: overwhelming and practically undivided support from citizens who want an end to Vucic’s regime belongs to the Student List,” the Democratic Party said.
In the party’s assessment, the absence of comparable turnout for the Djilas and Aleksic lists shows that they lack the capacity to get close to the electoral threshold, and that every vote cast for them would be wasted. That is why DS is asking that the signature collection be halted in favor of the students.
“The Democratic Party therefore extends an open and well meaning invitation to Dragan Djilas, Miroslav Aleksic and representatives of all other formally opposition lists to heed the message from citizens, halt the collection of signatures, withdraw their candidacies and support the Student List without any conditions,” the statement reads.
Which lists the call targets
Djilas heads the “European Serbia” list, which besides the Freedom and Justice Party also includes Serbia Center (SRCE) and Solidarity. Aleksic leads the “People’s Serbia” coalition, which besides the People’s Movement of Serbia also includes New Face of Serbia and Ecological Uprising. Based on what is known so far about how opposition actors are lined up, both lists belong to the so called pro European bloc that does not join the Student List directly, but runs with its own candidacy instead.
Neither the Freedom and Justice Party, nor the People’s Movement of Serbia, nor Djilas or Aleksic themselves had responded to the DS call by the time this article was published. No response had reached the nova.rs portal either, nor Sabacke novosti, which also carried the statement.
A day earlier, on September 12, while signing a petition in support of his own list at a stand in Vracar, Djilas struck a different tone in comments to N1, signaling readiness to talk with all opposition actors.
“We are ready to talk to everyone. To everyone, so that we can win,” Djilas said in Vracar, where Freedom and Justice Party deputy president Marinika Tepic also signed the petition, alongside Serbia Center leader Zdravko Ponos.
That statement, however, said nothing about withdrawing his candidacy. It spoke of possible cooperation after the lists are registered, which is not what DS is asking for in its Sunday statement. The Democratic Party’s demand goes further: halting signature collection and unconditional support for the Student List, meaning a complete withdrawal of their own candidacy.
What the students themselves say
Even before this DS call, the Students in Blockade had already spoken about possible post election cooperation with the opposition, without weighing in on individual parties’ decisions about running.
“Every opposition actor is obligated to act responsibly toward the election result through their own decisions, so that votes are not scattered in an election that is a choice between Serbia and the mafia, and where every percentage point matters,” the Students in Blockade said on September 6.
The portal has previously reported that the Green-Left Front and the Democratic Party had announced support for the Student List in the October 25 election, though the Green-Left Front did not make that support conditional on an unreserved withdrawal from its own race. DS sharpened that distinction further in its Sunday statement, asking the rest of the pro European opposition to follow through with actions, not just verbal support.
Whether Djilas and Aleksic will respond to the call, and in what form, remains open. The deadline for submitting election lists still determines how long that answer can wait, since the election is held on October 25.
