Vucic: The boycott will fail

Vucic: The boycott will fail

Vucic added that this would deny citizens the right to political representation.

At the same time, Vucic states that he is convinced that the boycott will fail and that he expects a large turnout.

Vucic estimates that genuine Serb opposition voters may be denied their basic democratic right to political representation and de facto disenfranchised by several unelected individuals who claim to represent them.

President of Serbia in the text estimates that the threat of boycott was never related to the electoral process, but that it was always about the fear of the opposition leaders to deal fairly and transparently with the electorate. These self-proclaimed opposition leaders used a boycott to try to delegitimize the April elections and the next government, Vucic said.

"It will not work. We are convinced that the citizens of Serbia will see what the calls for a boycott are. The only significant boycott could be a boycott of elections by Serbian citizens, not leaders without supporters," Vucic said.

He pointed out that the expected high voter turnout would confirm the election and discredit those calling for a boycott. Vucic said that parties advocating the boycott failed to clear the hearts and minds of voters, and that the SNS-led government, which is ready to face the electorate in free and fair elections, succeeded.

The president said that under the current government, Serbia has a strong economy with a GDP growth amounting to four percent, that it is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe, with unemployment falling below ten percent from 25 percent left by the previous government. Public debt is steadily declining, with investments, including foreign ones, on record highs, while wages and pensions are higher than ever.

Vucic says the Government of Serbia has worked with NGOs, the OSCE, the ODIHR, the European Parliament and political parties in Serbia over the past year to ensure the right of citizens to vote in democratic and fair elections.

He said the government not only engaged in discussions and debates, but sought and received requests and recommendations from all foreign and domestic actors, including opposition parties, on how to improve laws and regulations regarding the electoral process.

He recalled that last August, Serbian Government formed a task force to co-operate with the OSCE and the ODIHR with the aim of adopting laws and rules that will allow free and fair elections in the spring.

The task force is led by Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, who, according to Vucic, will shortly present the OSCE, ODIHR and to the public the six-monthly report of the Work group.

"Without wanting to interfere with his report, one can safely assume that the report will confirm that all the important requests and recommendations that he has received have been accepted and that the necessary laws have been adopted," Vucic said.

Key measures and necessary regulations were adopted, such as election campaign finance laws, anti-corruption agency functioning laws, rules governing political activities of elected officials and civil servants, rules governing media access during the election campaign, rules governing electoral rolls, and voting procedures, as well as the right of voters and domestic and foreign election observers to closely monitor the election process.

Also, the electoral threshold has been reduced from 5% to 3% to ensure that a wider range of political parties are represented and seats are guaranteed to representatives of national minorities. Both measures will reduce the number of seats the SNS can potentially win, Vucic said.

He added that given fair access to media for candidates and opposition parties, as this was the focus of complaints from the most vocal opposition leaders, the Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (REM) would immediately adopt new rules on how public service broadcasters should ensure that all registered political parties, coalitions and candidates are represented without discrimination during the election campaign.

REM will be empowered to closely monitor compliance with these rules and recommendations by public services and commercial media and to report on a weekly basis on its publicly available website, Vucic recalled.