Democratic Party decides to boycott election

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The Democratic Party (DS) has decided on Saturday that it will not participate in the election but will continue to actively and permanently fight for creating conditions for free and fair elections, as well as to communicate with the European Parliament, international organizations and representatives in the fight for democratic electoral conditions.

„Since there are no elementary conditions for free and fair elections, the government did not meet any of the joint opposition demands and did not accept any of the proposals by a group of independent experts, nor did it show any sincere intention for substantive changes to the circumstances in which elections are impossible, the Democratic Party will not participate in the elections,“ the main committee of the party decided.

Before the vote, party leader Zoran Lutovac said at a session of the party’s main committee that the only response to the regime’s behavior was a boycott.

He said that the regime uses “an intense media campaign” which often turns into a the “usurpation of institutions and suspension of rights” and leaves no room for any other response than a boycott.

Lutovac mentioned that September 15 is the Day of Democracy, but that there is no democracy in Serbia “today, nor tomorrow” and that this is why the DS has an obligation to “consistently pursue the aspirations of both libertarian and emancipatory hopes.”

„It depends on the DS whether the elections will be fair and free (…) This is not a decision that was made yesterday or today, this is a decision that has been developing for a year,“ Lutovac said, urging members to vote in favor of boycotting the election and „making a decision proving that they put the public, general interests above their individual ones“.