SNS to withdraw RIK members too?

Serb Progressive Party (SNS) leader Tomislav Nikolic called on the members of his party within RIK to state whether they will be tendering their resignations. “I think that moral people will tender their resignations, as they will grasp that they were dragged into enormous spending, as if it wasn’t their place,” said Nikolic, speaking to Politika. SNS to withdraw RIK members too? G17 Plus, the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), the Serb Radical Party (SRS), the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) do not intend to withdraw their officials from the Electoral Committee (RIK), writes Politika, quoting their representatives. RIK members elected from the Democratic Party (DS) tendered their resignations yesterday. G17 whip Suzana Grubjasic told Politika that representatives of her party would not be resigning, as “there is no conflict of interest, and they carried out their work responsibly.” “I won’t go into the Democratic Party’s reasons for this move—whether they were ethical, material, lucrative or some other reason. The SPS will not be withdrawing its only member from RIK. As far as expenses are concerned, enormous sums earlier went out evenly to representatives of all parties, so if someone wants to take the initiative to begin cutbacks, the SPS will support that,” said senior SPS official Branko Ruzic. Dragan Todorovic of the SRS said that RIK’s funding should have been resolved earlier, at a level compatible with the country’s current economic situation, and limited to a reasonable level. He said, however, that “the whole business about earnings is shaking the DS and those who first came out with the story about earnings, in order to abolish RIK and bring in some kind of state commission—something that will not wash.” Todorovic added that the Radicals had no intention of pulling their representatives out of RIK. DSS whip Milos Aligrudic said he saw the governing coalition plotting certain drastic measures in the “sudden appearance of the story about expenses”. Aligrudic added that he did not have anything against investigating expenses, to find some solution for earnings that would befit the current conditions, but that the DSS did not plan to pull its representatives out of RIK either. LDP leader Cedomir Jovanovic said that the enormous RIK salaries were a consequence of the absence of a system and that the issue needed to be resolved systematically, instead of “pulling out drawers full of scandal, which were, in themselves, controversial, although the DS’s move was distasteful.” Tomislav Nikolic (FoNet, archive)

SNS to withdraw RIK members too?

G17 Plus, the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), the Serb Radical Party (SRS), the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) do not intend to withdraw their officials from the Electoral Committee (RIK), writes Politika, quoting their representatives.

RIK members elected from the Democratic Party (DS) tendered their resignations yesterday.

G17 whip Suzana Grubjašić told Politika that representatives of her party would not be resigning, as “there is no conflict of interest, and they carried out their work responsibly.”

“I won’t go into the Democratic Party’s reasons for this move—whether they were ethical, material, lucrative or some other reason. The SPS will not be withdrawing its only member from RIK. As far as expenses are concerned, enormous sums earlier went out evenly to representatives of all parties, so if someone wants to take the initiative to begin cutbacks, the SPS will support that,” said senior SPS official Branko Ružić.

Dragan Todorović of the SRS said that RIK’s funding should have been resolved earlier, at a level compatible with the country’s current economic situation, and limited to a reasonable level.

He said, however, that “the whole business about earnings is shaking the DS and those who first came out with the story about earnings, in order to abolish RIK and bring in some kind of state commission—something that will not wash.” Todorović added that the Radicals had no intention of pulling their representatives out of RIK.

DSS whip Milos Aligrudić said he saw the governing coalition plotting certain drastic measures in the “sudden appearance of the story about expenses”. Aligrudić added that he did not have anything against investigating expenses, to find some solution for earnings that would befit the current conditions, but that the DSS did not plan to pull its representatives out of RIK either.

LDP leader Čedomir Jovanović said that the enormous RIK salaries were a consequence of the absence of a system and that the issue needed to be resolved systematically, instead of “pulling out drawers full of scandal, which were, in themselves, controversial, although the DS’s move was distasteful.”