Serbian PM, former president in heated exchange on pro-regime TV

Brnabic and Tadic appeared with Parliament Speaker Ivica Dacic on the Hit Tvit show which is aired in the same slot as the popular Impression of the Week talk show on the independent Nova TV. The heated exchange began when Tadic refused to stick to what the anchor said were pre-agreed issues and raised issues potentially embarrassing to the authorities including his one-time coalition partner Dacic who was prime minister during his presidency.

Tadic disputed a number of claims made by Brnabic, including the claim that living standards are better now than when he was in power and her claim that opposition presidential candidate retired General Zdravko Ponos said that he wants Serbia to join NATO. Brnabic tried to back up her claims with what she said were printouts of Wikileaks documents. Tadic picked up one of the papers and folded it into a paper airplane which he let fly across the studio.

The exchange span out of the anchor’s control at several points, forcing her to call for advertising to block out their mutual accusations.

Tadic disputed Brnabic’s allegations several times, saying that she got dates mixed up and that she was accusing him of wrongdoing in years when he was not president. Dacic spoke up when Tadic said that some of the things that Brnabic accused him of happened while Dacic was prime minister.