Serbian Right-Wingers Unveil Populist Platform

Three Serbian right-wing organisations presented a joint conservative populist platform, claiming to represent a 'third way' between the current government and the opposition, although their appeal to voters remains unclear.

Former Serbian presidential candidate and leader of the National Freedom Movement, Miroslav Parovic, said that the platform should unite those who support "conservative, traditional values", regardless of whether they side with the current government or not.

"That does not matter. We support Serbia and think that key issues must be a matter of consensus, and not subject to everyday politics," Parovic said.

Parovic is known for his right-wing statements and connections to the French far-right Front National and the anti-immigrant movement Alternative for Germany.

"We wish to offer Serbia a third path. On one side you have [Serbian President Aleksandar] Vucic, and on the other you have people whose only policy is to hate Vucic," said another one of the platform's initiators, Dragan Jovanovic.

Jovanovic is a sitting MP who was elected on the list of Serbia's ruling coalition, led by Vucic's Progressive Party, and is currently in the process of registering his own political party, Better Serbia.

The platform is also supported by the People's Network, led by a former member of the right-wing opposition party Dveri, Vladan Glisic, who claims his organisation is "staunchly in opposition".

At the press conference, Glisic laid out their platform, which includes the idea of a Serbian "cultural space" that he claimed includes Serbs living in Serbia, Montenegro, Republika Srpska (the Serb-dominated entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina), and "many other Balkan countries".

"We insist that this cultural identity...