BELGRADE – All parliamentary pro-EU parties, together with other partners, officially signed a coalition agreement for elections on 17 December, announced last week. The electoral alliance between the parties, which organised “Serbia Against Violence” protests, is the largest opposition coalition in terms of the number of parties since 2012.
The signatories of the agreement are five parliamentary parties: Democratic Party (DS), Green-Left Front (ZLF), Together (Zajedno), the People’s Movement of Serbia (NPS) and Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP).
Free Citizens’ Movement (PSG), Ecological Uprising (EU) and the extra-parliamentary Serbia Centre (SRCE) party are also signatories.
The list will carry the name “Serbia Against Violence” and will also include the names of the prominent opposition figures Marinika Tepić (SSP) and Miroslav Aleksić (NPS).
In previous parliamentary election, which took place in April last year, these parties won around 20% of the vote, running on two electoral lists.
The parties gathered around massive protests which broke out in May, following two mass shootings that left 19 people, mostly children and young adults, dead.
“We have been together in this for half a year and I believe that we will achieve the Serbia without violence, in which every child will be safe, protected and secured. This goal has gathered us and we can never forget that”, read out journalist Smiljan Banjac, who opened the press conference in front of the National Assembly of Serbia.
Representatives of the signatories addressed the public, outlining some of the goals of the coalition.
“We will fight against corruption and organised crime, we will fight against poverty, and we will fight to show everybody that it can be better and different”, said MP Miodrag Gavrilović (DS).
Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta, leader of the Ecological Uprising, stated his view of the choice in this elections.
“This government will fall like the rain that is falling today. I call the citizens to decide on 17 December, the choice is easy: whether they will live freely in their country or as the slaves of Aleksandar Vučić”, he said.
One of the leaders of the Green-Left Front (ZLF), Radomir Lazović, pointed out the fact that today is six months since the mass shooting in the Vladislav Ribnikar school, while tomorrow it will be six months since the killings in the vicinity of Mladenovac.
“This is a big responsibility, that we have been carrying throughout the protests. I want to say that we feel the responsibility and that we will make sure that no parent anymore suffers the way parents of the murdered children have”, he said.
The list will start gathering necessary signatures to participates in the election on Saturday, President of the Free Citizens Movement (PSG) Pavle Grbović announced.
Opposition announces the signing of the agreement (Jovanović Ćuta speaking)
Photo: FoNet
