Antonijevic and Ilic: Vote Against the Ruling Party's List

The Mi snaga naroda parliamentary group sent the Srpske Novine newsroom a statement on September 18 at 2:20 PM in which three MPs, recently expelled from the movement’s presidency, confirm they will not run in the early parliamentary election called for October 25 without their party. The statement arrived the same day Borislav Antonijevic, Slobodan Ilic and Branko Lukic held a press conference at the National Assembly.

In Brief

• Three MPs, expelled from the Mi snaga naroda presidency, say they will not run in the election without their party
• Ilic calls on voters to back all anti-government lists, primarily sovereigntist ones
• Antonijevic urges people not to vote for the Mi snaga naroda list if he and the other expelled MPs are not on it
• Lukic announces a lawsuit at the Second Basic Court against the expulsion decision
• The deadline for submitting election lists to the Republic Election Commission is October 4

What the MPs Are Telling Voters

The press conference began in the late morning, and wire reports on it appeared between 11:51 AM and 12:36 PM. Ilic made an appeal there that he later repeated in the written statement.

If the situation stays as it is now, we call on citizens to vote in the election for all lists that are against the current government.

In the statement sent to the newsroom, Ilic spelled out that position in more detail.

We have decided not to run in the election without our party. If that situation continues, we call on the citizens of Serbia to vote in the election for all lists that are against Aleksandar Vucic and Ivica Dacic. Primarily for sovereigntist lists, but also for lists they believe would be best placed to start the process of change in the state after this regime falls.

Antonijevic sharpened the appeal in a different direction, warning that if he and the other expelled MPs are not on the Mi snaga naroda list, that list will stop representing what the movement stood for.

In that case, I call on voters not to vote for that list.

In the statement, he also gave the reason he believes the expulsion was carried out.

The point was for us not to be on the list of MPs for the next term, because they were bothered by our telling the truth, by the way we presented it, by everything we said.

The Meeting With Andrej Vucic and the Moscow Question

At the press conference, Antonijevic publicly explained in detail, for the first time, the circumstances of a meeting with Andrej Vucic, the brother of the Serbian president, whose existence media had reported earlier.

President Branimir Nestorovic delegated me to that meeting. Some of our activists in Vojvodina had problems out on the street, and we were told he could resolve that with one phone call.

The portal 021 reported on September 16 that the meeting actually took place on August 21, and that Antonijevic said at the time, shortly after the meeting, that ministries had not been discussed.

The Moscow question was raised by Nestorovic himself, the movement’s president, at his own press conference, which BBC in Serbian covered on September 16. Nestorovic claimed at the time that Antonijevic had agreed to travel to Moscow and become the new candidate there in his place, and that a group of associates had asked for campaign money, around 500,000 euros.

Doctor Antonijevic agreed to go to Moscow and become the new candidate there instead of me.

In the statement sent to the newsroom, Antonijevic responded to that claim briefly, denying that the trip Nestorovic spoke of was recent.

I was in Moscow, but in 1997, 29 years ago.

As of publication, no response from Branimir Nestorovic, the Mi snaga naroda leadership, the People’s Party or the Serbian Progressive Party to the claims made at the September 18 press conference had been found in any media outlet.

Lukic Announces Lawsuit, Dispute Over Jurisdiction

Branko Lukic, a lawyer and MP whom the portal SNM identified on September 15 as the movement’s deputy president, while N1 and Nova.rs referred to him on September 18 only as an MP, announced he would challenge the expulsion in court. The disputed question is which body even had the authority to decide on it.

First of all, the Assembly cannot decide on our removal. Only the Presidency can, by a two-thirds majority.

At the conference, he added that the procedures preceding the expulsion were also disputed.

But everything around our expulsion was done in violation of the bylaws.

Lukic says he will sue at the Second Basic Court and demand the complete documentation from the movement. At the conference, he also commented on Nestorovic’s health, which media had earlier reported involved hospitalization.

And what they did to Doctor Nestorovic, who is very ill, and how they convinced him to act unlawfully, I cannot get into that.

Antonijevic answered the same question more cautiously, confirming only what had already been reported in the media.

We learned from the media that he was hospitalized, and nothing more than that. It isn’t right for more than that to be published without his consent and his family’s consent.

What Comes Next Before October 4

The September 18 press conference is the latest chapter in a dispute that has been running since the middle of the month. Srpske Novine had earlier reported on a press conference held by the same group of MPs, in which they said they could not locate Nestorovic and announced they were preparing a coalition with Aleksandar Vulin’s Movement of Socialists, in a piece titled “Lukic: Nestorovic Could Not Get Out of the Car by Himself.” The day after that conference, Nestorovic held his own, where he spoke of betrayal at the top of the party and of a visit to Moscow after which, he said, he decided to run in the election after all. Footage from a closed session of the movement’s leadership then began circulating on social media, published by Nova.rs on September 16, in which Andrej Vucic and the possibility of a coalition with Vulin are both mentioned. At the September 18 press conference, Antonijevic cited that footage as evidence that someone inside the movement is trying to hurt him and the other expelled MPs.

The statement sent to the newsroom names four expelled MPs, though only three spoke at the press conference. The newspaper Danas names the fourth as MP and presidency member Ana Ivanovic, while the Beta news agency, N1 and Nova.rs mention only Antonijevic, Ilic and Lukic in their reports. As of publication, the identity of the fourth expelled presidency member has not been unambiguously confirmed.

Alongside the split, Vladimir Gajic’s People’s Party announced on September 15, in a statement to Danas, that it would run in the election in coalition with Mi snaga naroda and two smaller parties, one of them a minority party. As of September 18, available sources show no indication that such a joint list has been submitted to the Republic Election Commission (REC). The deadline for submitting election lists is October 4, two and a half weeks before the October 25 vote.