Ponos urges Student List voters to back European Serbia

Zdravko Ponos, president of the Serbia Center party (SRCE) and one of the leaders of the “European Serbia” list, addressed voters five days before the October 25 election who are still choosing between that list and the Student List. By his reckoning, a vote for the Student List takes Serbia only halfway to European Union membership, and only a vote for European Serbia, he argues, guarantees the whole way. The Beta news agency carried the statement on October 20: Ponos gave it to the “Glas srca” portal, and his party passed it on to the media.

Insajder recorded the same lines about the half step, rosemary and a coalition with the SPS on October 18, in its report from a European Serbia rally in Nis, so this was not the first time Ponos had delivered these messages. On the day Beta published his statement, Dragan Djilas, the list’s leader and president of the Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP), also addressed voters.

What does Ponos tell voters considering the Student List?

Ponos’s argument starts with the referendum the Student List promises. He calls a vote for it half a step, and says the other half is what should set the direction of travel:

“The other half of that step is needed too, the one that will determine the direction in which we are going. If someone is satisfied with a promise of a referendum after which it can go either way, then let them give their whole vote to the Student List. And those who do not want to give their whole vote for half a step, let them give that vote to European Serbia. We will be partners tomorrow. Do not throw away half a vote. Vote for ES, and then your whole vote goes to what you want,” Ponos said.

The message also carries an electoral calculation. Ponos warns what would happen if European Serbia fails to enter parliament and the Student List cannot form a government on its own:

“Think about whether you will vote for rosemary under the pillow, a referendum, or a European life in Serbia. Those are your options. After the vote there is no regret. If European Serbia did not enter parliament and the Student List could not form a government by itself, then even if they had more seats than the Serbian Progressive Party, they would be the winners of the election, but in fact the losers,” Ponos said.

That, in his telling, leaves the Student List dependent on a coalition with the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). Ponos claims that those who earlier called for abstention now say a vote for European Serbia is a wasted vote, that they are working solely for Aleksandar Vucic, and that they are thereby “pushing” the Student List toward the SPS.

At the Nis rally he put it as a question. Ponos said then: “Those who advocate that we stay below the threshold are pushing the Student List to form a coalition with the SPS. Is that what we are fighting for? For the SPS to survive, or for Serbia to survive?” He also asked whether a referendum would reopen every major decision that the people and the state have made: “Will we reconsider whether we want a monarchy or a republic? Will we decide whether the grid runs on 220 volts or 110?”

We did not find a response from the Student List to Ponos’s claims about the referendum and a coalition with the SPS in the reports we reviewed.

How does Ponos describe the state of the country’s institutions?

The second part of the statement concerns the authorities. Ponos says Serbia currently has “not a single institution in a regular state,” while the government keeps talking about the stability of the country. His explanation:

“We have a caretaker government and a prime minister who started doing the job after Vucic’s government fell, and only so that Vucic could take his place. We also have an acting president, Ana Brnabic, who is doing it from the position of speaker of a dissolved parliament. It is so stable that all we still need is anti-nausea pills. And they are trying to tell us that everything is fine and that we just need to put rosemary under the pillow so we can sleep peacefully,” Ponos said.

What did Djilas say the same day?

Djilas, in a statement carried by N1, described the October 25 election as a line the list is drawing head-on: “In this election the offer is clear and we are drawing the line directly: Vucic NO, Europe YES!”

He tied specific commitments to the money that, he claims, would be left after a fight against corruption. He announced a halt to projects such as EXPO, prosecution of profiteers and the strictest law on the origin of property, with the savings going to salaries. Djilas said: “That money goes to salaries: 250,000 dinars for education workers and 400,000 dinars for doctors.” He also announced the dissolution of the Security Information Agency (BIA), which he said is used to persecute dissenters. We reported the 250,000 dinar pledge for teachers earlier.

He repeated the message about numbers through the electoral arithmetic:

“The math is clear, and math does not lie: without votes for the ‘European Serbia’ list, Aleksandar Vucic cannot be defeated.”

At the Nis rally on October 18, Djilas said power changes only if the Student List is stronger than the SNS and European Serbia is stronger than the SPS. He put his own list’s potential at around five percent, claiming a campaign is being run against it over the “wasted vote.” He urged voters with the words: “Circle number nine on October 25 and be sure that you have made a key contribution to victory,” and went on to say that this means victory over a “plague that has devastated Serbia.”

Both statements start from the same arithmetic: the outcome on October 25 depends on whether European Serbia enters parliament, and a whole vote for it, Ponos and Djilas say, is not a wasted vote.