Nestorovic Leaves Hospital as Mi Snaga Naroda Stays Split
The movement says its leader has finished treatment and will return to the helm very soon, but the dispute over a coalition with Vulin and the October 25 election is unresolved.
Branimir Nestorovic, leader of the Mi Snaga Naroda movement, has returned home after hospital treatment, the movement announced on the evening of October 12, thirteen days before the elections scheduled for October 25. His release coincided with the worst crisis the party has faced, and the announcement did not settle the fight over whether to run.
What did the movement say about Nestorovic?
According to the statement, Nestorovic’s health is fully stable after a period of medical care. The movement thanked the doctors and medical staff, as well as tens of thousands of citizens in Serbia and the diaspora who sent messages of support.
The movement says Nestorovic will “very soon” return to the head of the struggle for a free, sovereign and dignified Serbia. The statement names neither a diagnosis nor the hospital where he was treated, and it does not say when he was admitted or discharged. It is also unclear whether Nestorovic will address the public before the vote.
Why is Mi Snaga Naroda divided?
The rift opened in mid-September over a possible alliance with the Socialist Movement of Aleksandar Vulin. On September 14, the parliamentary group announced that a majority had voted against joining a coalition with Vulin. No coalition was formed.
The next day, September 15, Nestorovic appeared at a press conference. According to the Beta news agency, he said there had been a betrayal at the top of the party and that he had been in Moscow, where he decided the movement should run in the elections. According to Nova.rs, part of the movement claims that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and the Security Information Agency (BIA) are behind the push for that coalition. No evidence for the claim has been presented.
Part of the movement’s Presidency then announced that the movement would not run in the October 25 elections at all.
Who has been expelled, and what does each side claim?
Sources differ on how many people were expelled. Nova.rs, citing Beta, reports that five members of the Presidency were thrown out of the movement. Vreme names two expelled lawmakers, Borislav Antonijevic and Slobodan Ilic, and mentions expulsion from the Presidency.
Antonijevic says the expulsion is illegal and illegitimate and came because they opposed the coalition. He confirms that he met Andrej Vucic, the president’s brother, but says Nestorovic himself sent him to that meeting. He has also said earlier that they learned about Nestorovic’s hospitalization from the media.
A side close to Nestorovic’s leadership accuses the expelled members of trying to take over the movement and its campaign funds, which reports put at about 500,000 euros. Antonijevic rejects those claims.
Both sides point to the influence of intelligence services. The expelled members speak of a British service, the other side of domestic structures. According to Vreme, neither claim is backed by evidence. The expelled lawmakers have also announced, per the same source, that they will not run without the parent movement if the dispute is not resolved.
What remains open until October 25?
While Nestorovic recovers at home, it is still unresolved who speaks for the movement and whether it will be on the ballot at all. That decides where the votes that previously went to Nestorovic’s list will end up, and whether some of them will fall below the threshold. No resolution of the dispute over the Presidency has been announced so far.
