"Tadić taking over as prime minister would be disgraceful"

Former high ranking official of the LDP party Vesna Pesic believes that Boris Tadic "cannot be new PM" after he lost his bid to be reelected as president. Pesic - an MP and former ambassador, and one of the leaders of the opposition alliance that toppled the Milosevic regime in 2000 - spoke on Wednesday in Belgrade at a gathering organized by the Political Forum. "Tadic taking over as prime minister would be disgraceful" If Tadic were to now take over as prime minister, she continued, that would be "shameful and disgraceful for Serbia", because even while he held the office of the country's president, Tadic "exercised almost all the power, and acted as prime minister, prosecutor, judge, everything". "Ours is the only country in the world that wishes to call itself democratic, while at the same time having a president who lost an election, only to be offered a higher office - that of premier. Not only that, but he already performed that role with catastrophic results, however, it is still being offered to him," Pesic noted. She added that the country's political philosophy underwent a change during the rule of the Democrats, according to which elections are "unnecessary", while it is known in advance who can and who must not win in an election. Pesic likened Serbia's political parties to criminal clans and "interest groups" that are dividing up their influence in the market, and party leaders to gang leaders, comparing, in this context, DS leader Boris Tadic with early 20th century Chicago gangster Al Capone: "It's as if somebody asked, 'Why should Al Capone run in elections?' There will be no more elections for Al Capone, he must win... What do we need elections for if positions are distributed in advance, if it's known who will win, and if elections serve only as a facade of democracy? This is not the Middle Ages where the power was God-given," she said, and added that the authorities acted without any checks in place in the past period, "unable to accept a single independent institution". The panel was also attended by former high ranking official of the Democratic Party (DS) and former Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic, who said the DS should come to terms with its defeat, noting at the same time that it would "not spell disaster either for Serbia or for the party if it did not participate in the next government". "The pressure that the top of the Democratic Party is exerting on the media is such that I am embarrassed by it," stressed Zivkovic. He also challenged top DS officials to explain why Tadic won 800,000 fewer votes than in the previous presidential election, while the party lost 700,000 votes compared to 2008. He accused the Democrats of being "unable to remember the party manifesto, while it's also difficult to find even on the internet", and that instead, the party had turned into "an efficient organization with a single goal in mind - to make its president the most popular": "It would be very good for Serbia to see what the authorities would look like without the DS, which still has the greatest potential, but also for the party itself, to see who would remain, especially in its presidency. To see whether people joined for reasons of ideology, or for reasons of corruption." According to Zivkovic, both the citizens and intellectuals had greatest expectations from the DS to turn the country into a well-ordered society, and accused "what used to be the only alternative" - the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) - of turning into "a candidate to become a new G17 Plus". Vesna Pesic (Tanjug, file) Beta

"Tadić taking over as prime minister would be disgraceful"

If Tadić were to now take over as prime minister, she continued, that would be "shameful and disgraceful for Serbia", because even while he held the office of the country's president, Tadić "exercised almost all the power, and acted as prime minister, prosecutor, judge, everything".

"Ours is the only country in the world that wishes to call itself democratic, while at the same time having a president who lost an election, only to be offered a higher office - that of premier. Not only that, but he already performed that role with catastrophic results, however, it is still being offered to him," Pešić noted.

She added that the country's political philosophy underwent a change during the rule of the Democrats, according to which elections are "unnecessary", while it is known in advance who can and who must not win in an election.

Pešić likened Serbia's political parties to criminal clans and "interest groups" that are dividing up their influence in the market, and party leaders to gang leaders, comparing, in this context, DS leader Boris Tadić with early 20th century Chicago gangster Al Capone:

"It's as if somebody asked, 'Why should Al Capone run in elections?' There will be no more elections for Al Capone, he must win... What do we need elections for if positions are distributed in advance, if it's known who will win, and if elections serve only as a facade of democracy? This is not the Middle Ages where the power was God-given," she said, and added that the authorities acted without any checks in place in the past period, "unable to accept a single independent institution".

The panel was also attended by former high ranking official of the Democratic Party (DS) and former Prime Minister Zoran Živković, who said the DS should come to terms with its defeat, noting at the same time that it would "not spell disaster either for Serbia or for the party if it did not participate in the next government".

"The pressure that the top of the Democratic Party is exerting on the media is such that I am embarrassed by it," stressed Živković.

He also challenged top DS officials to explain why Tadić won 800,000 fewer votes than in the previous presidential election, while the party lost 700,000 votes compared to 2008.

He accused the Democrats of being "unable to remember the party manifesto, while it's also difficult to find even on the internet", and that instead, the party had turned into "an efficient organization with a single goal in mind - to make its president the most popular":

"It would be very good for Serbia to see what the authorities would look like without the DS, which still has the greatest potential, but also for the party itself, to see who would remain, especially in its presidency. To see whether people joined for reasons of ideology, or for reasons of corruption."

According to Živković, both the citizens and intellectuals had greatest expectations from the DS to turn the country into a well-ordered society, and accused "what used to be the only alternative" - the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) - of turning into "a candidate to become a new G17 Plus".