Vucic Announced New Elections Even Before New Government Constitution

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Tuesday announced that early parliamentary elections will be held in April 2022, even though a new government has still has not been formed following the June 2020 elections.

After a session of his ruling Serbian Progressive Party presidency, Vucic said the new government, which has yet to be formed, will be of limited duration, adding that new elections will be held on April 3, 2022 at the latest, jointly with regular presidential elections. Local elections in the capital Belgrade will also be held that year, presumably at the same time as the presidential and parliamentary elections.

A political scientist from Belgrade, Vujo Ilic, told BIRN that it looked like a tactical move to strengthen his democratic legitimacy in the country and abroad after it was shaken by an opposition boycott in the June elections.

"By calling early parliamentary elections the ruling party will control the agenda, and, by joining it with presidential polls and the politically uncertain Belgrade city elections, it will ensure itself an electoral advantage … after the boycotted elections, which were criticized for lack of legitimacy in Serbia and abroad," Ilic told BIRN.

The announcement was on one level a surprise since the coalition gathered around the Serbian Progressive Party won an overwhelming victory in June, winning over 60 per cent of votes cast.

The opposition parties and blocs mostly boycotted the elections, and only two other lists entered the parliament: the SNS's junior partner, the Socialist Party of Serbia, SPS, and newly formed Serbian Patriotic Alliance, SPAS, led by a former water polo player, Aleksandar Sapic.

Vucic then said that both the SPS and SPAS would be part of the ruling coalition....

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