Milos Jovanovic Files Election List With RIK, 250 Candidates
The Novi DSS and Monarchists coalition filed a list of 250 candidates, led by Milos Jovanovic, with Serbia's Republic Election Commission, backed by over 10,600 signatures ahead of the Oct. 25 vote.
The New DSS (Novi DSS) and the Monarchists filed a joint list of candidates for Serbia’s snap parliamentary election with the Republic Election Commission (RIK) on September 18, running under the name “Authentic Right, Dr. Milos Jovanovic.” New DSS leader Milos Jovanovic heads the list, which carries 250 candidates for parliament.
More than 10,600 certified signatures backing the list were submitted along with it, well above the legal minimum of 10,000 required for a list that does not run as a national minority list. By law, RIK has 48 hours from receipt to certify or reject a list. The snap parliamentary election has been called for October 25.
Who’s on the list and who backs it
According to Sabacke novosti, the coalition behind the list also includes the NADA movement and independent candidates alongside New DSS and the Monarchists. Other outlets that reported on the filing, Kurir, Insajder, Tanjug and Bez cenzure, name only the New DSS and Monarchists coalition and make no mention of NADA.
Besides Jovanovic, the list includes New DSS deputy leader Predrag Marsenic, University of Belgrade law professor Milos Stankovic, Bojan Dimitrijevic, Monarchist leader Vladimir Jelic, professors Aleksandar Popovic, Branislav Ristivojevic and Sinisa Atlagic, political scientist Aleksandar Pavic and historian Nemanja Devic. Portal 021 reports that academics Kosta Cavoski and Matija Beckovic, along with political analyst Dragomir Andjelkovic, have also publicly endorsed the list.
What Jovanovic said
Speaking to reporters after the list was filed, Jovanovic called the coming election “fateful,” according to Bez cenzure. He framed it as something running deeper than an ordinary electoral race.
“I think the question runs much deeper and further than that: whether the Serbian nation, as a nation, will keep fighting for its vital interests.”
That question, Jovanovic said, spans several issues at once, from foreign policy to family life.
“Where our state borders are, whether Ratko Mladic is a war criminal or a hero, what marriage should look like in Serbia, whether we should impose sanctions on allied states such as the Russian Federation.”
That was how the New DSS leader put it, according to Insajder and Sputnik. On relations with the European Union, Jovanovic was direct: “We clearly say cooperation with the EU is needed and desirable, but not membership,” he said, according to Bez cenzure. Asked what Serbia needs for change, he added: “There has to be a change of government, but beyond that there has to be a change of policy.”
Where the list stands in RIK’s order
By the time this list was filed, RIK had already certified seven election lists. The two most recent, filed by Usame Zukorlic and by the “Russian Party, Serbia in BRICS” list, were certified a day earlier, on September 17. That means ballot position 7 already belongs to the Russian Party list, not to Authentic Right. At the moment of filing, the Authentic Right list had only just been received by RIK and had not yet been certified; RIK assigns a ballot number only at certification, within the legal 48 hour window from receipt.
The first list RIK certified was “Aleksandar Vucic, United Serbia,” filed on September 12 with 250 candidates. Tanjug and Kurir reported that day that more than 220,000 signatures had been submitted with it, while Insajder published a more precise count of 209,130 certified signatures. The same day, the “Ivica Dacic, Stability Factor” list was filed with 18,162 signatures, followed shortly after by “Student List, Students Win” with 69,099 signatures. The “People’s Serbia” coalition reportedly withdrew its own list earlier and threw its support behind the student list.
Srpske Novine has previously reported on New DSS allegations that the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) sent employees from Obrenovac to sign the ruling coalition’s list. The newsroom had not, until now, reported on New DSS and the Monarchists filing a list of their own.
RIK now has 48 hours from today’s receipt to decide whether to certify or reject the “Authentic Right” list. The deadline for filing all remaining election lists for the October 25 vote expires at midnight on October 4.
