Former President: Boycott of elections in Serbia may normalise society

Tadic, who was the head of state for eight years, from 2004 to 2012, and now is the leader of the opposition Social-Democratic Party (SDS), said the mobilisation for the boycott demanded “higher level of organisation (within the opposition) than during election campaigns.”

 “The idea to boycott the vote contributes to the normalisation of the social not only political situation,” Tadic told the agency.

"(Serbia’s President Aleksandar) Vucic has created an unbearable situation in the country. By injecting his bad taste, vulgarity, indecency, aggression, all pathological forms his personality is characterised with, he brought abnormality into our everyday life,” Tadic, a psychologist by profession, said.

 His SDS is not a member of the Alliance for Serbia (SzS) opposition umbrella group but is a part of the wider opposition bloc and Tadic says they talk about the boycott with some parties that are SzS members.

He added that while deciding to boycott the vote, one should have in mind the importance of the foreign factor and recalled that a part of the international community which advocated Kosovo’s independence insisted that Serbia’s opposition took part in the elections.

“They don’t do that because they believe in democracy but because they want Vucic to deliver what they want for Kosovo. Vucic probably promised that together with (former President Tomislav) Nikolic while they were in the opposition to court (the part of the international community) them,” Tadic said, adding he feared that the opposition served to the part of the international community only to legitimise the intention of formalising Kosovo’s independence.