Ponos sets EU condition for backing Student List government

Zdravko Ponos, president of the Serbia Centre party (SRCE) and one of the leaders of the European Serbia list, has publicly named the condition under which his list would support a Student List minority government after the October 25 parliamentary elections. On the same day, October 8, Student List candidate Oliver Toskovic said post-election coalitions are not being discussed for now. There are 17 days left until the vote.

What did Ponos say about backing a minority government?

Ponos told the weekly NIN that such a possibility exists if it proves to be a workable solution, but that support cannot be unconditional. He named one condition:

“Our key condition is the continuation and acceleration of European integration. We could not support, or take part in, a government that would oppose Serbia’s European path.”

Ponos also considered a second scenario. If a broader coalition were needed to form a majority that ends the rule of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), with partners who do not share European Serbia’s position on EU membership, he said, then the talk is of a transitional government. He described its task this way:

“(Its) basic task would be to clear away the political and social wreckage left behind by this government and prepare the conditions for normal elections. Such a transitional government would have a very specific and time-limited mandate.”

This is the first time one of the leaders of the European Serbia list has so clearly separated two calculations: a Student List minority government with outside support, and a time-limited transitional government. Dragan Djilas, president of the Freedom and Justice Party and the top name on the European Serbia list, spoke the same day on a different subject, the cancellation of the EXPO 2027 project after a change of government, and we have already reported his messages from Kragujevac.

Ponos on turnout and the danger of violence

Ponos said the elections will be a chance for major change, which he believes will happen but which could go “for better or for worse.” He claims the authorities have stolen at least 25 years from citizens, and he spoke about 14 years of the current government and almost 37 years of continuity of “red-black rule,” with a 12-year break.

On turnout and the safety of the vote, he said:

“I expect a high turnout in the coming elections, because the mood in society is such that many who did not take part in the electoral process before now show a wish and a will to come out. It is extremely important that there is no violence, and the main responsibility lies with the authorities, although all the other participants must also be aware that elections held in an atmosphere of violence are not real elections.”

Ponos explained what a worse outcome would mean:

“Worse would mean continuity of rule with Vucic, who would now get all the formal powers he did not have as president, even though he violated the Constitution and abused the office. With formal powers he could do everything even faster, harder and worse, which would be dangerous.”

The lead candidate of the “United Serbia” list is Aleksandar Vucic.

Toskovic: coalitions come after the election

Oliver Toskovic, a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade and a candidate on the Student List, spoke to the new issue of Nedeljnik. He said the list is assessing whom it could work with after the elections, but that coalitions are not a topic before the vote:

“We will talk about them after the elections, once we know whether we have managed to protect the integrity of the electoral process and the right of Serbia’s citizens to choose.”

Asked where the “red lines” of compromise are, Toskovic answered that they lie in the main messages of the Student List program. On who is welcome as a partner, he said:

“Anyone is welcome as a partner who wants to fight corruption, who stands for and takes part in strengthening institutions, decriminalizing society, depoliticizing public companies, increasing the transparency of public policies and building a socially responsible state that cares for its citizens.”

According to Toskovic, the Student List is focused on the campaign and on making sure the elections are held in the most regular circumstances possible:

“To increase oversight and reduce the manipulation of the voters’ will by the current authorities. We are trying to get the message across to everyone, and I mean everyone, including former and even potential SNS voters, that we are fighting for all of them. We are fighting so that they can vote freely, so that nobody bribes, blackmails, harasses or drives them away.”

Asked how he pictures October 26, the day after the elections, Toskovic said everyone gathered around the Student List will meet and discuss either defending the citizens’ electoral will or forming a government.

How this fits with other opposition moves

Ponos’s offer and Toskovic’s postponement come on a day when the opposition was also speaking about future relations. Bojan Kostres, president of the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina, called on citizens to turn out and back the Student List, and said in a statement: “We will discuss our differences openly when the time comes.” Miroslav Aleksic, president of the People’s Movement of Serbia (NPS), who submitted and then withdrew an election list in favor of the Student List, said in Bor and Negotino that the NPS is not on the ballot but is a participant in the election, and that it has set up coordination with the Student List on monitoring the vote.

One question remains open that neither Ponos nor Toskovic has closed: what happens if no side has a majority without partners who disagree about the path to the European Union. For that case Ponos offered a transitional government with a limited mandate, while the Student List left its answer for October 26.