SzS official accuses EU of supporting Serbia’s regime

Stefan Mitorvic, of the ‘That’s Enough’ movement, said that the European Union was pressuring the opposition in Serbia to take part in the elections because “the EU supports this regime.”

He said that TV channels with national frequency demonised every single political opponent.

The SzS chairman from the Democratic Party Miodrag Stankovic said the Alliance would not take part in the elections “because there is no election.”

“People must know who to vote for, but in the last seven years (since President Aleksandar Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, won elections in 2012), they are not informed because the media are closed. The current regime has usurped the media and doesn’t allow people to get true information, ” he told a round table discussion in Nis.

Stankovic added the authorities could stop “to demonise” the opposition since it would not take part in that show.

Nis’ branch of SzS has been in the boycott campaign for some time. “We are on the ground daily and call on people not to go to the polls,” Stankovic said.

The participants in the debate also invited opposition parties that had not yet decide whether to boycott the elections in March next year to do so.  

The EU officials have indeed asked Serbia's opposition not to boycott the forthcoming elections, arguing that it was the last resource.  Some of the bloc's representatives attempt to mediate between the authorities and the opposition, but so far haven't achieved much.

The authorities are trying to fulfil some of the opposition's demands for a fair and free vote, but their opponents say it was too little too late.

The crucial issue is media freedom that many international organisations and politicians say has been poor in Serbia.