Kula Councilwoman Quits Youth Voice, Votes With SNS
Jasmina Mirovic Vukadinovic left the Youth Voice of Kula councilors' group and voted with the SNS-led majority at the September 23 assembly session.
Councilwoman Jasmina Mirovic Vukadinovic, who was the second candidate on the Youth Voice of Kula municipality’s list in the March 29 local elections, left that councilors’ group ahead of the Kula Municipal Assembly session on September 23. At the session itself, according to her former colleagues, she voted for most of the items proposed by the ruling coalition gathered around the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
Mirovic Vukadinovic is from Crvenka and has sat in the Kula assembly as an independent councilor since September 23. Youth Voice of Kula municipality won 18 seats in the March elections, one fewer than the SNS-led coalition’s 19, which means every single vote shifts the balance of power in the local parliament.
The movement first announced her departure on the Instagram account of Mladi Kula (Young Kula), addressing her directly:
“It is your right to continue your mandate as an independent councilor. Still, the moment you chose to leave the councilors’ group makes us wonder whether this is an attempt to discredit the Mladi Kula movement.”
The message came ahead of the parliamentary elections, in which the movement is also running as part of the Students’ List.
What Youth Voice Says
Youth Voice councilor Roland Sipos told the Nova portal that disagreements with Mirovic Vukadinovic existed from the moment she entered the assembly, both within her home local board in Crvenka and with the rest of the group over certain decisions. According to him, a commission was formed in mid August to examine her conduct in the local board, and all ten of its members said they could no longer work with her.
“The problem started with her not respecting the majority’s decisions,” Sipos says.
The group then asked her to resign so the next candidate on the list, also from Crvenka, could enter the assembly. She refused the request.
“A colleague and I handed her the decision and told her about it. She wouldn’t even comment,” Sipos says of that conversation. He adds that despite a message she sent through a colleague from Crvenka ahead of the September 23 session saying she would continue working as before, she officially left the group at the session itself.
Sipos says the group now suspects that Mirovic Vukadinovic, as an independent councilor, will keep supporting SNS proposals, pointing to the September 23 vote, where he claims she backed almost every item from the ruling majority while Youth Voice voted against.
Fellow group councilor Aleksa Nastic told Nova that Youth Voice of Kula municipality is not claiming Mirovic Vukadinovic joined SNS, nor that she received any financial or other benefit for her continued political activity, since they have no evidence for such claims. He adds that it matters to the group that citizens know she no longer speaks on behalf of their councilors’ group.
The Ethics Agreement and an Attempted Conversation
Youth Voice had asked all its candidates in the local elections to sign an ethics agreement under which a councilor who breaks the coalition’s decisions resigns and is replaced by the next candidate on the list. Despite that agreement and a personal conversation Sipos says he had with her, Mirovic Vukadinovic refused to resign.
Sources disagree on whether Mirovic Vukadinovic addressed her decision at all. The 021 portal reported on September 23 that she was unavailable for comment, while Nova published her brief written reply to the newsroom’s inquiry a day later, on September 24.
Suspicion Dating Back to June
The case follows Youth Voice’s first serious test of unity, in June, when Vesna Tomic (SNS) was elected president of Kula municipality with 20 votes in favor and 17 against, even though the Students’ List holds 18 seats in the assembly. The gap raised suspicion at the time that someone from the opposition had secretly voted for the ruling party’s candidate, though Youth Voice councilors had no proof then either. Sipos says they still have no proof that it was specifically Mirovic Vukadinovic who voted for Tomic in June.
Asked about her decision, Mirovic Vukadinovic gave the Nova newsroom a brief reply: “Thank you for reaching out. I will comment after the parliamentary elections.”
