Djilas Promises Doctors 400,000 Dinars at Novi Sad Rally
Djilas, Ponos, Tepic and Jesic speak at the Novi Sad Fair's Master Centre at 6 pm, and the list's top candidate has pledged salaries of 250,000 and 400,000 dinars.
The European Serbia list closes its campaign for the parliamentary elections tonight in Novi Sad. Voters go to the polls on Sunday, October 25. The final rally starts on Wednesday, October 21, at 6 pm in the Master Centre of the Novi Sad Fair, at Hajduk Veljkova Street 11. Ahead of the event, list leader Dragan Djilas made concrete pledges on pay for teachers and doctors, on the Security Information Agency (BIA) and on a law on the origin of assets.
Who is speaking at the final rally?
The list has announced that four politicians will address the event:
- Dragan Djilas, president of the Freedom and Justice Party (SSP) and first on the list
- Zdravko Ponos, president of the Serbia Centre party and a list leader
- Marinika Tepic, vice president of the SSP and a list leader
- Goran Jesic, president of the Solidarity Civic Movement and a candidate on the list
The list was submitted by the SSP, Serbia Centre and the Solidarity Civic Movement. It has 246 candidates and carries number 9 on the ballot, according to the portal Moj Novi Sad. Djilas is first on the list, while the two other list leaders, Tepic and Ponos, are second and third.
What did Djilas pledge ahead of the rally?
In a statement carried by the SSP on October 20, Djilas announced he would halt the Expo project and prosecute those who profit from it. He described the vote as the moment when Serbia chooses for good between European standards and isolation, and he called on citizens to mobilize in full. He drew the dividing line this way: “In these elections the offer is clear and we are drawing the line directly: Vucic NO, Europe YES!”
The most concrete figures concern pay. According to a statement published by the Beta agency, Djilas said:
“We are resolutely stopping corruption that very second. We are halting harmful projects like Expo, through which billions are being siphoned off, we are prosecuting the profiteers and we are passing the strictest possible law on the origin of assets. That money goes to salaries: 250,000 dinars for teachers and 400,000 dinars for doctors. That is European Serbia. The BIA, which is used to persecute dissenters, will be dissolved, and we will build professional institutions that protect the people, not the government.”
In short: 250,000 dinars for teachers and 400,000 dinars for doctors, along with dissolving the BIA and creating institutions that, in Djilas’s words, would protect citizens rather than the government.
How did Djilas appeal to voters?
He urged citizens to turn out in large numbers on Sunday and “finish the job started on October 5, 2000.” He went on:
“This is the final stage of the struggle that began on October 5, 2000. We waited too long and too many chances were missed. Now we go all the way. The math is clear, and math does not lie: without votes for the ‘European Serbia’ list, Aleksandar Vucic cannot be defeated.”
Ponos earlier called on voters of the Student List to back European Serbia, as we reported. Tonight’s rally in Novi Sad is the list’s closing event in the campaign for the October 25 elections.
