Nikolić: Early elections best solution

Tomislav Nikolic believes that, despite the economic crisis, elections are a better solution than the continued work of the current government. “I am not at all worried that early elections would create greater chaos than that which was created by the currently comprised government,” the Serb Progressive Party (SPS) leader told Tanjug on Sunday. Nikolic: Early elections best solution "Simply put, something worse is unimaginable. But elections would first enable the Serbian political seen to crystallize, and second, small political parties to disappear,” he said. According to him, parties which would not be able to enter parliament running, today control important sectors, such as health, the budget, the national bank, privatization, infrastructure, energy and police, while "new elections would change that". “Every vital function is in the hands of small political parties. Who is that useful for? Where is the responsibility? What will these politicians do? They will consider only how they can earn more while their party is in power. A party which captures a large number of votes, when in the opposition, has to be serious. A party which captures a small number of votes, when in power, doesn’t have to be serious. It’s enough to have blackmail capacities,” said Nikolic. Serbia must await the outcome of the Kosovo issue with an ideologically coherent government, as well as with wide consensus among parliamentary parties about how far the state is prepared to go in defending its interests, he said. “If five or six of the strongest political parties unanimously announce that there will be no talks on the independence Kosovo, that we will never accept one carrot if the stick is Kosovo's independence, then I think people would speak completely differently about us. I believe that here we could cooperate with Vojislav Kostunica, and try, then, to force Boris Tadic’s government to participate in that with us,” said Nikolic. The former Radicals (SRS) number two added that he is prepared to cooperate with his former party, but that that depends, above all, on leader Vojislav Seselj and his appraisal about whether the party "should remain a completely isolated political power". Tomislav Nikolic (FoNet, archive)

Nikolić: Early elections best solution

"Simply put, something worse is unimaginable. But elections would first enable the Serbian political seen to crystallize, and second, small political parties to disappear,” he said.

According to him, parties which would not be able to enter parliament running, today control important sectors, such as health, the budget, the national bank, privatization, infrastructure, energy and police, while "new elections would change that".

“Every vital function is in the hands of small political parties. Who is that useful for? Where is the responsibility? What will these politicians do? They will consider only how they can earn more while their party is in power. A party which captures a large number of votes, when in the opposition, has to be serious. A party which captures a small number of votes, when in power, doesn’t have to be serious. It’s enough to have blackmail capacities,” said Nikolić.

Serbia must await the outcome of the Kosovo issue with an ideologically coherent government, as well as with wide consensus among parliamentary parties about how far the state is prepared to go in defending its interests, he said.

“If five or six of the strongest political parties unanimously announce that there will be no talks on the independence Kosovo, that we will never accept one carrot if the stick is Kosovo's independence, then I think people would speak completely differently about us. I believe that here we could cooperate with Vojislav Koštunica, and try, then, to force Boris Tadić’s government to participate in that with us,” said Nikolić.

The former Radicals (SRS) number two added that he is prepared to cooperate with his former party, but that that depends, above all, on leader Vojislav Šešelj and his appraisal about whether the party "should remain a completely isolated political power".