Lopandic and Stefanovic quit, Petrovic expelled from SRCE
After the October 25 election, three officials of the opposition coalition European Serbia have left their parties: Lopandic and Petrovic of SRCE, Stefanovic of SSP.
Three officials from the two parties that ran together as the European Serbia coalition in the October 25 election have left their parties or been pushed out. Dusko Lopandic, until now vice president of the Serbia Center party (SRCE), announced on X that he had resigned from all his posts. Slobodan Petrovic, a member of parliament and of the SRCE Presidency, confirmed that he has been expelled. Borko Stefanovic told N1 and Insajder that he is no longer a member of the Freedom and Justice Party (SSP) and that he has resigned from all his posts.
The coalition of the SSP, SRCE and the Solidarity movement, whose list was led by Dragan Djilas, fell below the threshold. According to preliminary results reported by Danas and N1, it won about 0.3 percent of the vote, or 12,143 votes (0.28 percent). The Republic Electoral Commission has yet to declare the results.
What did Lopandic post on X?
Lopandic wrote that he handed in his resignation the day before, October 27:
“I am informing you that yesterday I resigned from all posts in the Serbia Center party. Together with part of the party leadership and a large number of members, I argued from the start for withdrawing from the election campaign, given its referendum character.”
He added that he had also declined to be a candidate on the European Serbia list. He closed the post with a verdict on the party leadership:
“Instead of taking responsibility for a heavy electoral fiasco, the party leadership is now expelling the person who argued for the right course and who was one of those in the party who advocated supporting the Student List. Sad.”
He also shared a Nova.rs article about Petrovic’s expulsion.
Why was Petrovic expelled from SRCE?
Nova.rs reported that the party of Zdravko Ponos expelled Petrovic, who is from Vranje, the day before, on October 27, and said the reason is presumed to be his withdrawal from the election list. Petrovic later confirmed the expulsion on X. According to him, the grounds cited were the article of the Statute under which membership ends when someone takes part in a campaign for another political party, and he says that in his case this means supporting and campaigning for the Student List. The decision was made by the Executive Board, and Petrovic says he has no objection because it complies with the Statute.
He also wrote this:
“I am sorry that, together with a number of my now former party colleagues, we did not manage to change the decision to run in the election and to support the Student List as a party.”
He said he wishes the SRCE members “all the best in their further political work and success in all fields.”
The dispute inside the party has been going on since September. In mid-September, Petrovic and Presidency member Bosko Sindic announced that they no longer support the decision to run in the election within the European Serbia coalition. Petrovic then gave up his place on the list and said the election is “not about whether any of us will hold a seat in parliament or some other post.”
What did Stefanovic say about leaving the SSP?
Stefanovic gave as his reasons the leadership’s decision not to back the Student List and to run alone, along with the lack of accountability at the top of the party for a result he described as “devastating and miserable.” He told Insajder he is resigning because of “the well-known harmful, catastrophic decisions of part of the party leadership.”
He said other members had withdrawn from the list before him and together with him, and that some have already left the SSP. He did not name them. About them he said:
“These are brilliant, exceptional people, proven fighters, people with a clear political vision and program, and it is important at this moment that we bring all those people together, that they become part of this single river of change that the students’ brilliant victory has brought to Serbia, so that a clear policy of change, a policy of the future, is preserved.”
Stefanovic called the political situation “a necessary purgatory,” one in which parties in their classic form will not exist.
What do the parties say?
In the reports by N1, Insajder, Danas and Nova.rs there is no response or official statement from SRCE, Zdravko Ponos, the SSP or Dragan Djilas on these three departures. Djilas addressed the result on X on October 25 with a congratulation to the Student List: “Sincere congratulations to the Student List on a magnificent victory!” The parties’ responses to the claims by Lopandic, Petrovic and Stefanovic had not been published by the time of this article.
