14 minutes agoWho are Serbia's presidential candidates, and what do they offer?
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)In the race for Serbia's presidency are eight candidates from the current president, former Chief of General Staff, Belgrade University professor to far-right figures. Among the candidates for the state presidency are three women. The president of state is the highest state official, which citizens of [...]
Among the candidates for the state presidency are three women.
The president of the state is the highest state official, which citizens vote for directly in the elections.
The Republican Election Commission (KRZ), through lots, has determined listing Serbia's presidential candidates on the ballot sheet for the April 3rd elections. We're showing them in that order.
Misha Vacic, presidential candidate from the group of citizens “
Misha Vacic promotes the extreme right ideology, saying he is Serbian nationalist and that “devoted his life to fighting for Serbisation”.
He handed the list with signatures and candidacys for president with a procession with torches. The Serbian Right Information Service disclosed that it has reached the CRZ with an armoured “Jeep with Russian license plates”.
In the column of Serbian and Russian-flagged vehicles, several vehicles had the mark “Z”, a symbol of the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
“I am the only candidate who does not need neutrality, but full support for Russia regarding the current special operation in Ukraine”, Vacic said.
For aggression against Ukraine, he uses the term of Russian officials “special operation”.
Also, he has said he was the only candidate with a strong patriotic ideology aimed at economic and military empowering the country, in order to create conditions for the “restoring sovereignty on Serbian occupied territories and joining other Serb countries”.
The Serbian Right, led by him, advocates Euro-Asian integration and a military alliance with Eastern forces.
He says Russia is the eternal ally of the Serbian people, denies Kosovo's independence, and says Serbia will not be a NATO colony.
He attended the support rally for Radovan Karadzic following his arrest in 2008, while a year earlier at a rally supporting Ratko Mladic. In the years that followed, both were sentenced for war crimes at The Hague's Tribunal.
For a short time, at the end of 2016 and early 2017, he was employed at the Government Office for Kosovo, until Marko Djuric, now ambassador to the United States.
He admits he is not enthusiastic about winning, but he uses presidential candidacy to present his policy.
Biljana Stojkovic, candidate for president from the “coalition, we need”
Individual responsibility, solidarity, dissolution of the party state are among the goals represented by Biljana Stojkovic.
She says the main reason she decided to be a candidate is environmental protection.
The biggest emphasis will be placed on environmental protection and on this meaningless destruction of life for the sake of foreign capital and international companies”, she said. (Nova.rs, February 27, 2022).
In the campaign, she declared that the “coalition needs”, committed to the fastest route to Europe.
She considers the issue of Serbia's stance on Kosovo should be resolved by the referendum. Also, he thinks the referendum is needed for Serbia's eventual entry into NATO, though it personally opposes membership in military alliances.
Russia's attack on Ukraine has called it aggression that led to a humanitarian disaster.
When it comes to sanctions against Russia, it considers Serbia should pursue its own interests, like most European countries with energy dependent on Russia. Also, it notes that Serbia must harmonise its foreign policy on the road to EU membership.
It calls for accepting communities of the same gender, for absolutely equal “rights, including property rights, marriage and children”. (Novi magzain, March 17, 2022)
She also said that as president, she would respect the secularity of the state and go to the patriarch only for personal reasons.
Biljana Stojkovic has not been a member of any political party. She is the deputy of the Free Serbia Assembly, which was formed by a group of Belgrade professors, academics and intellectuals. This organisation is committed to continuing the EU membership process, “but on the principles of reciprocity and respect of Serbia's national interests”.
Biljana Stojkovic is a regular professor at the Faculty of Biology at the University of Belgrade.
Branka Stamenkovic, candidate for coalition president “Sovereigns”
She describes herself as “a woman from the people living as an average resident of Serbia”.
It says that support for sovereignty policy is a “not” in a loud voice for Serbia's entry into NATO and “not” for the European Union. “Co-operate with all but not relinquish our sovereignty”, she said in the election campaign. It considers that the preservation of Kosovo as part of Serbia and the preservation of the Republika Srpska (the identity of Bosnia and Herzegovina) should be the priorities of each president.
She believes Serbia's EU accession, “sic is the EU, currently, is not in the country's interest”. (N1, March 17, 2022). It considers that Serbia should have a neutral stance and not take sides when it comes to Ukraine, and that this is not a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but Russia and NATO, despite NATO not participating in that conflict.
Regarding the authorities' decision to vote on Russia's UN sentence, it says it may be a costly mistake.
“I hope that the Russian Federation will realise that this is done under pressure, we should not allow it to be trusted without the support of UN Security Council members”, she said. (N1, March 17, 2022).
Branka Stamenkovic has been Serbia's Parliament deputy from June 2016 to August 2020, on the right movement list “enough was”.
It is one of the founders of the civic initiative “Mother courageous” for improving conditions in Serbian maternity plants. She's a translator by profession.
Zdravko Ponos, candidate for president of the group of citizens “for united, just and stable Serbia”
It is committed to, as he says, respecting the Constitution of Serbia and the renewal and respect of state institutions.
He describes himself as a centrist, not that he has such a position for everything, but because he has “roughly a group of attitudes that are close to the political centre”. (Danas, March 15, 2022).
Ponos says Serbia should have a foreign policy pillar, and that is “Serbian national interest”. (Fonet, March 13, 2022).
He supports Serbia's path towards the EU, but believes special relations with Moscow and Beijing should not be sacrificed. During the election campaign, he declared it was “for a major Serbia, but not for Serbia at the width, but at the height, where the sky is its 11x1> border.
To him, Kosovo is part of Serbia. He thinks recognition of the former Kosovo province cannot accept any democratic government in Serbia.
But it also belongs to all those who live there, who live, who want Kosovo and Metohija”, he tweeted during the presidential campaign.
He considers that for Banja Luka, the address for resolving Bosnia and Herzegovina's problem is in Sarajevo, not Belgrade. (Fonet, March 13, 2022).
He is committed to respecting the territorial integrity of UN members and has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is against setting “aprior” of sanctions, because those “have never been adapted to surgically affect only the tops of the” regime. ( RTV, March 22, 2022.
“If time could turn back, I want to believe Ukraine would choose military neutrality and Russia would welcome Ukraine's European path”, he said. (Danas, March 15, 2022).
Those who criticise him call it the “NATO General”. “has won this label because of one-year schooling at the Royal College in London.
In 2017, he voiced the opinion that Serbia's entry into NATO would be irrational and that Serbia should remain militarily neutral.
Zdravko Ponos is former chief of the Serbian Army General Staff (2006-2008).
Until recently, he was a senior official of the opposition People's Party, whose leader is former Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic.
The coalition that proposed Pinosin for candidate, United Serbia unites opposition subjects, the Party for Freedom and Justice, the Democratic Party and the People's Party, as well as the Movement of Free Citizens.
Milica Djurdjevic-Stamkovski, candidate for president from “, Serbian Party Zavetniciı (Swearing)”
She says to herself that since she was a girl, she had shown a positive attitude toward politics and national activity.
It is at the helm of the far-right Serbian party “Zavetnici”, whose name was chosen, as stated on their website, based on historical experience, in which the central point takes oath for Kosovo.
Milica Djurdjevic-Stamkovski, in the election campaign, says “Zvetnici will never allow Kosovo's surrender”.
It considers that it should not negotiate sovereignty and that it should be known where the borders of the state are.
“Zavetnici”, led by Milica Djurdjevic-Stammekovski, is familiar with demonstrations in Belgrade against the Festival of Contemporary Artists from Kosovo “Good afternoon, Dobar dan”, which is held once a year.
This festival, which promotes reconciliation and affirms art, for Djurdjevic -Stammekovski, is “provocation and Albanian-great propaganda in the heart of Belgrade”.
A protest against Kosovo Albanians has never been held in Belgrade. There have been protests due to the usurpation of our” territory, she points out. (Danas, March 7, 2022).
Members of “Zavetnici” consider Serbia's participation in “political persecution against the state (Russia), which, as a permanent member of the Security Council, is the strongest guarantor of Resolution 1244 and of preserving its sovereignty in Kosovo and Metohi”. Milica Djurdjevic-Stamkovski praised that Serbia, with imposing sanctions on Russia, would jeopardise state, national and economic interests.
In May 2018, the Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights (YUKOM) established a criminal outcry against it in Belgrade's High Public Prosecutor “about the activities and attitudes it expressed about the activities of non-governmental organisations”. The result of that speculation is not publicly known.
“Zavetnici” has so far participated in parliamentary elections, but has never managed to pass the threshold to enter parliament.
Aleksandar Vuciq, candidate for president of the coalition “Aleksandar Vuciq we can do everything (SNS, SPS, SVM)
Aleksandar Vuciq, leader of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), who has been president of Serbia in the past five years, promises responsibility and seriousness.
Vuciki in the election campaign has said “Serbia is not sitting in two chairs, but in one of its”.
Serbia is part of the world, it is on the European road, but only Serbia is not on the list made by the Russians, on its enemy list”, he said at a rally in Leskovc, south of Serbia, on March 7th.
On that day, Russia published a list of anti-x0-states”, in which they were included, among other things, Albania, Northern Macedonia and Croatia.
Vucinqi opposes imposing sanctions against Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine and considers Serbia should be guided by its vital political and economic interests. He repeatedly respects Ukraine's territorial integrity.
Vuciqi does not use the terms of aggression and invasion when speaking of Ukraine, but Serbia joined Russia's sentence by voting for the UN Resolution. Vuciqi's Serbian Progressive Party is dominant in Serbia's Government, which officially heads the country's foreign policy.
He engages in Serbia's EU membership, but maintains close relations with Russia and China.
He has ordered that Serbia will not enter NATO.
Vucinqi has repeatedly said she will not recognise Kosovo's independence, which she announced in 2008.
He insists on a compromise solution for normalising relations with Pristina, with which, as he emphasises, both sides will be satisfied. However, he never said what compromise might be.
On behalf of Serbia, he is leading the political dialogue on normalising relations with Kosovo leaders, which is under EU auspices.
Vuciqi has expressed several times the position that Serbia will always be with Bosnia and Herzegovina's entity, Republika Srpska, respecting Bosnia and Herzegovina's integrity.
As Serbia's prime minister, he visited the Potocari Memorial Centre in 2015, where he paid tribute to the victims of Srebrenica genocide during 1995. However, he refuses to call it genocide, saying a terrible crime has occurred in Srebrenica.
The opposition and part of the public in Serbia criticise him for his autocratic way of governing. Reports of international organisations estimate the collapse of democracy in Serbia, as well as the threat to media freedom. He and his party reject such claims.
Aleksandar Vucic crossed the path by a hardline nationalist who, as a senior official of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), the party of convicted war criminal Vojislav Seshel, defended the boundaries of “Greater Serbia” into one European.
“Only the donkey does not change”, he said several times.
He abandoned the Serbian Radical Party in 2008 and joined Tomislav Nikolic to establish the Serbian Progressive Party. Nikoli had abandoned the Radicals before Vucinqi.
Vuchchiki, like Sezel, turned his back on the other political father “” Nikolic in 2017. At the time, despite Nikollic's intention to be a candidate for Serbia's president's second term, Vuciq ran himself for that post.
Since 2012, since he led the Serbian Progressive Party, he brought victory to his party with a considerable majority in the elections.
Milos Jovanovic, presidential candidate from Serbia's Coalition for Kingdom HINA DSS
Milos Jovanovic represents the idea that “unites national and democratic”.
He is president of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), which forms coalition NADA (Expecta) with a part of Serbia's Kingdom Renewal Movement.
He says it is a fact that the crown is an integral part of Serbian history.
At one of the pre-election gatherings, he said victory in presidential elections is a transitional phase towards the renewal of the parliamentary monarchy.
He considers the threat to Serbia's national interests coming from the West and NATO when it comes to Kosovo, Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the position of the Serb people in Montenegro.
He says Russia sided with Serbia with the UN Security Council.
Serbia must not impose sanctions on Russia with the EU's instigation and condemn its movements, nor recognise the independence of Luhansk and Donjuk”, Jovanovic said.
Before aggression against Ukraine, Russia recognised the independence of the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donjeck.
Jovanovic estimated that Serbia “polluted its face” by voting in the United Nations to condemn Russia's attack on Ukraine.
It opposes Kosovo's independence, considers the Constitution to be respected exclusively, under which Kosovo is Serbia's “southern province, and UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
In December 2021, he said problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina's functioning could not be solved by weakening Republika Srpska. Everyone should be aware that the Serbian people will not allow Republika Srpska to be depreciated”, he said at the time.
He thinks Serbia should remain neutral on the military side.
Jovanovic defended the doctorate thesis in Sorbonne with the subject “Justification and the reasoning of using force in the post-Cold War period. Study case: NATO's military intervention against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999”.
Milos Jovanovic is leading the party, whose leader was Vojislav Kostunica, who defeated Slobodan Milosevic in the 2000 presidential election in the RF of Yugoslavia.
He's a legalist at Belgrade University's Law School.
Bosko Obradovic, candidate for president by Coalition “Dveri” and POKS (Patridical Block for Resolving Serbia's Kingdom)
Bosko Obradovic engages in economic and environmental patriotism, return to the monarch and family policy. Dvery, whose leader is Obradovic, engages in strong right-wing attitudes.
Announcing his candidacy, Obradovic said other goals of the old political agenda are: against NATO membership, the EU, against permits for COVID, mandatory vaccines, entry of illegal migrants into Serbia's territory and against Kosovo independence.
He says Serbia does not have to be an EU member, but that it can co-operate fully for mutual benefits.
As president, he would not allow the deployment of any version of sanctions against Russia, which he views as guarantor of preserving Kosovo as part of Serbia, to the UN Security Council.
We share with Orthodox brothers, Ukrainians and Russians, desiring peace and the immediate outcome of any conflict. I don't understand why Ukrainians are dying for the interests of the NATO pact that wants to surround Russia”, he stressed. (Danas, March 8, 2022).
Obradovic sent a <x0ef-forgive to Russia and Russian people” because Serbia joined the UN's condemnation of aggression against Ukraine.
According to him, the backdrop of the Ukrainian crisis is <x0 NATO's hostile actions at the borders of Russia”. Obradovic participated in the protests in Belgrade, in support of Russia.
Once Serbian Parliamentary MP, he hosted Crime official Georgi Muradov and Natalia Vladimirovna Poklonskayan, deputy of Russian Duma. From Poklonskaya received a crime flag, before which the three posed to reporters.
Official Belgrade treats Crime as part of Ukraine and does not recognise the annexation of the peninsula from Russia.
In some of his statements, Obradovic also cited “the protection and preservation of Republika Srpska” as the most important national and state interest.
The Dveri movement, at the top of which is Obradovic, is also known for organising “Family movements”, as countermanifestation to the “Pride Parade”, where LGBT community requires respect for their rights. Obradovic said the Crenare Parade was an insult to public morality.
His candidacy is supported by the Patriotic bloc coalition, which consists of the Serbian Movement Dveri and a part of Serbia's Movement for Refreshing the Kingdom.
Before that coalition, Bosko Obradovic and Dveri were part of the Alliance for Serbia ( SzS), an opposition group formed in 2018 of nine parties and movements, at the initiative of Dragan Gjillas, today's leader of the opposition Freedom and Justice Party.
Obradovic's RTS intervention is known from that period (Radio Television of Serbia) in March 2019, when he requested that the opposition be allowed to present to the Public Service. He joined other SS leaders and demonstrators. It all ended with their getting out of the television facility from the Serbian gendarmerie.
A year later, Obradovic concluded his co-operation with this bloc of parties and he again turned to the right.
