How Serbian election led to PM resignation

President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, has announced the most significant rotation in Serbian government in recent years. Prime Minister Ana Brnabic is to resign after seven years in power. The urgent resignation has an explanation: it is part of Vucic's plan to maintain monopoly power in the country.

Read more about the connection between these events in the article by Yurii Panchenko, European Pravda's editor - Resignation for a good reasons: what lies behind the resignation of the first lesbian prime minister in the Balkans. The recent election in Serbia was held on 17 December. Besides the snap parliamentary elections, Serbs also voted for local authorities on that day. The key intrigue lay precisely in that election.

The Serbian pro-Western opposition, united under the umbrella of the movement Serbia against Violence, had high chances of winning the election in Belgrade. Losing control over the capital, whose budget nearly equals the state one, would have been a severe blow to Vucic and his ambitions to maintain authoritarian rule. As a result, the most glaring violations were recorded precisely in the capital on the voting day.

Serbian media, citing their sources, reported on a possible compromise between the European Commission and the Serbian government in late 2023. It involved the EU's readiness to recognise the election in Serbia on the condition of holding snap election in Belgrade. The possible new election in the capital was not ruled out by Vucic himself.

He clarified thought that the reason for the re-elections might not be the demands of other countries but the absence of a coalition in the city council. In the end, it turned in the exact this way. Both the pro-Western and pro-Russian opposition in the city council did not agree to form a coalition with the Serbian Progressive Party (Vucic's traditional coalition partner).

And their votes, together with the votes Socialist Party MPs, were insufficient to form a majority. So on 2 March, the acting mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Sapic, announced snap elections in Belgrade. The date has not yet been announced, which could be crucial for both the government and the opposition.

The Serbian government urgently needs to announce April 28 to hold the snap elections in Belgrade. On this day, a lot of capital's residents will allegedely be leaving the city for May holidays and Orthodox Easter. This is of utmost importance for the Serbian opposition to demand the snap elections after 15 May.

They even consider boycotting the elections on 28 April. The Serbian Parliament must act as quickly as possible though to announce elections in late April. After all, it is the Parliament that must decide on the election day in the capital.

At the same time, Vucic plans to dismiss the Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, who is considered a compliant executor of the president's will, to the position of Speaker of Parliament. Re-elections in Belgrade could be decisive for both Vucic and the pro-Western Serbian opposition. The victory of the opposition could lead to a domino effect - snap elections in other Serbia's major cities.

On the other hand, the victory of Vucic's party may not only guarantee him the preservation of monopoly power but also definitively discredit the pro-European opposition. The stakes are very high. So, we can expect new scandals and protests from Serbia in the coming weeks.

And of course, Russia will try to take advantage of this crisis.

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