Vucic: If we lose, I will congratulate at 10 or 10:30 PM
The head of the United Serbia list told Informer TV he will not address the public before 10 PM, that his cabinet would have 12 ministers in one building, and that the poll gap is 1.5 percent.
Aleksandar Vucic, the head of the “Aleksandar Vucic - United Serbia” list, said on Informer TV on October 20 that if his list loses the election he will offer congratulations at 10 or 10:30 PM, and that he will not address the public before 10 PM. The election is on Sunday, and in the same interview Vucic spoke about the makeup of the next government, the gap in the polls and N1’s decision not to host him in its pre-election programming.
What did Vucic say about election night?
Vucic said no force can change the outcome of the vote and that his opponents “can stand on their heads, they can make up whatever they like,” because “if they lose the election, they have lost the election.” He then described how he sees the night after the polls close.
“If we lose the election, I will congratulate at 10 or 10:30 PM, and that’s it. I won’t come out before 10:00 PM, that’s certain. I couldn’t care less whether they will congratulate me or not. There are people who will. If we win, most people in Serbia will be glad, and that’s it,” Vucic said on Informer TV.
Vucic did not say whom he would congratulate, and about the other contenders he said only that it makes no difference to him whether they congratulate him. Elsewhere in the interview he added what would follow if his list lost: “That same evening I will say the worst about them, and that same evening I start the fight against them.”
How big is the gap in the polls?
Vucic claims the gap in the polls is now 1.5 percent, after being 20 percent in his opponents’ favor earlier.
“And now the gap is only 1.5 percent, and it used to be 20 percent for them. That’s right. Now it’s 1.5 percent. We have made progress. It was even more than 20 percent. So what matters is concentrating on election day,” Vucic said.
He then urged voters who want a “normal, decent Serbia” to turn out and vote.
What did he say about March 15 and security?
Speaking about securing the election, Vucic said that “there are law and order institutions here” and that there are no longer people who take orders from an embassy, as on March 15. According to him, only one unit, the one commanded by Repac, stayed loyal to the state then, while the Serbian Army did not get involved. He closed with the line: “You will not see a French scenario in Serbia.”
What kind of government is he announcing?
If the list wins and he becomes prime minister, the government would have 12 ministers, Vucic said. All of them would sit in the same building, with only the Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry possibly housed separately. Asked how that would work, he replied: “Not one of them can leave the building until I approve it.” He also announced that there would be “very few old ministers” and that new names would appear, but said he is not dealing with that “while the rabbit is still in the forest.”
As areas he will pay particular attention to, he named southern, eastern and western Serbia, the Banat and the eastern part of Vojvodina.
What did he say about N1?
Asked about N1, which declined to host him as part of its pre-election programming, Vucic called the decision “Nazi-type discrimination.” He also said that Vladanka Malovic “did nothing, but they did,” and that this shows their fear. The N1 newsroom said there would be no interview with Vucic on that channel before the election.
As we reported earlier today, Sovljanski announced that he will file complaints against Vladanka Malovic over unauthorized recording, as well as against the tabloids that carried the recording.
