Serbian opposition leader Djilas says hoax vote on Sunday

Djilas said that the elections are being held despite health risks and a lack of democratic standards for the campaign. “At the start the COVID-19 pandemic, our president said all will be OK if we take a shot of brandy every day,” Djilas said Wednesday in an interview. “And then he introduced the toughest possible lockdown measures, including an 84-hour curfew…. Then the measures were lifted as if nothing has happened. It’s unbelievable,” he said.

AP recalled that Serbia went from having very strict lockdown measures to a near-total lifting of the government’s emergency rules in early June with opponents saying that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic eased the restrictions so he could hold the elections, which were originally scheduled for April but were postponed because of the pandemic, and cement his grip on power. Serbia is now seeing an infection spike after mass gatherings were allowed without people being instructed to keep social distance or wear masks.

“What led to the boycott by most of the opposition is the fact that we in reality have no elections,” Djilas said.

“For democratic elections, you have to have conditions for people to hear something different and freely express themselves.” “Not a single one of those conditions has been met,” he said and added that the media are closed for the opposition “but are used to attack people who think differently.”

Djilas said there would be no changes in Serbia without pressure on Vucic from the West. “We don’t expect them to topple Vucic, we only want them to create conditions for free and fair elections,” he said.