Opposition mayor says decision to stand in Serbian elections was hard

“The decision was hard but I took it with a clear head and pure heart after reflecting on it for a long time and talking to influential people in the town,” Zelenovic said.  

He said that he does not feel responsible for anything that can happen to the opposition Alliance for Serbia (SzS) which advocates a boycott of the elections, adding that he never lied to anyone about standing in the local elections in Sabac. Zelenovic’s party was a founding member of the SzS. “My conscience is clear because I did not take this decision alone but with the citizens of Sabac,” he said.  

He said that his party would spend the time up to the April 26 elections intensively communicating with the local population about “improving our policies, attracting new investments, better paid jobs, securing irrigation for 20,000 hectares of farm land”. “We will talk about maintaining good local services at the lowest prices, good health and social care,” Zelenovic said.  

According to Zelenovic, “the elections in Sabac and Paracin (another opposition-ruled town) are the only real elections in Serbia”. “We managed to win once before in more or less similar circumstances in 2016… and that is my message – when elections are held in conditions of a real competition and offer, winning is possible anywhere in Serbia and nothing is hopeless,” he said.