DSS official: Koštunica stepped down "permanently"

DSS official: Koštunica stepped down "permanently"

Koštunica, who led the DSS since its was founded in 1992 and in the meantime served as Yugoslav president and Serbian prime minister for two terms, announced he was stepping down after the party failed to cross the five-percent election threshold and gain seats in the new parliament.

According to Samardžić, the party is now facing difficulties when it comes to its funding, and described the circumstances in Serbia as "terrible," but voiced his conviction that the DSS "has a future," adding:

"The election result is inexplicable to us, explanations and real reasons are needed. We had a good campaign, more intensive than ever, people accepted us. We have many hypotheses, but also certain doubts."

He said the party's worst election result since it was founded "caught everyone in the DSS by surprise," and that the prevalent opinion is that "there were no real reasons to receive a smaller percentage (of votes) than in 2012."

Speaking about who was responsible for the result, Samardžić said his party had "neglected some things, such as vote counting," and added "there could be some mistake there," but did not specify what he had in mind.

He said that reasons for his party's poor showing included the SNS campaign, favoritism in the media, and "an interesting situation when it comes to voters, split between those abstaining and those suffering contusion."

"There's a large number of people who vote for the strongest based on an incredible combination of trust and fear," Samardžić remarked.

"During the campaign partners were found for Simpo, Mercedes arrived, factories were opened, 'City on the Water' was in the focus, money arrived from the Emirates. If the campaign lasted a year we would have ended up like Switzerland. Poor people are having a hard time, everything is falling apart, they want to believe in anything, and in those unrealistic promises as well. There's no place for the DSS there," he noted.

According to Samardžić, the DSS will not abandon its policy "at any price - and it could have remained in power in 2008 had it turned a blind eye to Kosovo."

"But then it would not have been the same party. Our narrative about the damage from (joining) the EU is rational and realistic, we are talking about how to move toward an alternative. Still, our story cannot be heard from the saturation. We are saying that the EU and NATO should be given up, but none of us said we would go somewhere else. That's how we're different from Dveri and the Radicals, because it is unrealistic for us to be in an alliance with Russia. That's also false. Serbia should not go to any alliance as a matter of principle, because it has been independent throughout history and making its own decisions," the DSS official asserted.

To the remark that this "obviously was not accepted by the citizens," Samardžić responded by saying that "people will in time realize that Serbia is a semi-occupied country," and that the DSS will thus become "increasingly relevant."

"We will fight for our survival. We lost an important share in the political life, but we will fight on the local level. There are difficulties when it comes to the financing of the party, it was never a rich party even when it was in power, and some conclusions could also be drawn from that. After the defeat we will not have the state subsidy, but I think the DSS will survive even in bad financial conditions. The basic thing is for people to work for the sake of their ideas and enthusiasm," he said, and stressed that a decision is yet to be made whether the DSS would participate in the new city authorities in Belgrade, where it had won councilor seats.

Samardžić also said that Koštunica's decision to leave "once again showed that he is the only transparent politician in Serbia," and described Aleksandar Popović as "his worthy heir, who is popular within the party and has a strong work energy."