Koštunica resigns as DSS party leader

Koštunica resigns as DSS party leader

Instead, the party Koštunica founded and led since 1992 won 4.24 percent, or 151,677 votes.

"This is a moment when the party will, for the first time, not enter the Serbian parliament. For that reason it is my duty to step down and submit my irrevocable resignation to the post of president of the Democratic Party of Serbia. I have done all I could do for Serbia, and all that it was my duty to do," Koštunica said in a statement for the Beta news agency.

He added that the DSS went to the March 16 parliamentary elections as the only party that had an economic and political program that should have enabled the country to recover and develop, and protect its state and national interests, safeguarding the Serb nation's cultural and spiritual identity.

"By the electoral will of thecitizens that Serb voice, that has at its base our well-known critical stance on EU integrations and the idea of political neutrality, will not be heard in the Serbian parliament. An absolute majority in these elections decided that Serbia should embark on a road that will turn it into a kind of colony of Washington and Brussels, that will jeopardize its freedom," Koštunica stated.

He believes that this will lead to further dismembering of Serbia, higher unemployment, debt-slavery, and a declining economy.

"Almost half of the electorate that did not turn out to vote supported, indirectly and tacitly, that type of policy, based on thunderously repeated false promises during the campaign that cost a huge amount of money, and was marked by open threats, intimidation, and bribing of voters," the DSS leader said, and added that his party "did what it could under such circumstances, which were extremely abnormal, and in fact, impossible."

"Still, if the Serb voice is not heard in the Serbian parliament, our representatives will be in the Belgrade Assembly, and assemblies of other cities and municipalities," Koštunica said.

He advised the party to "preserve itself, its organization and policy for a future time, when, unfortunately, Serbia and the people will be in a much worse position."

"Then the voice of the DSS and the voice of those who share our concern about Serbia's future will be needed even more," he stated.

Koštunica said it was an honor to lead the DSS for 22 years, and said his party "did much for the benefit of Serbia":

"While the DSS was in power the Constitution was adopted, Serbia choose in favor of military neutrality, economic recovery started, institutions were stabilized, media liberated, and the standard of living was noticeably increasing. There have been failures too, of course, and the hardest is the failure to cross the threshold in the elections that just took place."

Koštunica also thanked all his party associates and said they fought consistently to achieve state-making goals and democratic values, surviving even after the most difficult temptations.

President of the DSS Youth Dragan Daničić addressed reporters after the party's presidency met on Wednesday to say that a unanimous decision was made to name Aleksandar Popović, a former cabinet minister and until today one of the DSS vice presidents, acting DSS president.

Popović will head the party until its electoral assembly, which Daničić said will be held "after elections in Vojvodina."

Yesterday, URS leader Mlađan Dinkić also announced he was stepping down.