Nikolić’s offer was fair, SDPS leader says

Social Democratic Party of Serbia (SDPS) leader Rasim Ljajic says President Tomislav Nikolic’s offer for the participation in the new government was fair. He added, however, that he could not accept it for moral reasons. Nikolic’s offer was fair, SDPS leader says “It would certainly be more profitable for the party in the short run to join the government and develop further, primarily in the sense of strengthening the party infrastructure. And when it comes to the party’s visibility it would be better to be a part of the future government. However, that would be highly immoral and unprincipled bearing in mind that we are on the Democratic Party (DS) electoral list,” Ljajic told daily Politika. He stressed that a position would have been completely different if his party had independently won seats in parliament. “In that case we would be able to freely negotiate and we could seriously think about taking part in it if we agreed on elementary principles,” the SDPS leader explained. He pointed out that if it accepted Nikolic’s offer, his party would get a place in the government but “lose its honor”. “We will demonstrate these kind of principles in the best possible way in Vojvodina where we were in the coalition with the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). We have two councilors in the Vojvodina Executive Council and if the SPS gets kicked out from the provincial council we will share the fate of the coalition we were a part of,” Ljajic was quoted as saying. He said that the president had told him that the parliamentary majority already existed but that the SDPS had achieved a good result and that Sandzak should have a representative that won the majority of votes in the government. “I only do not agree with a part of the explanation that we are a minority party. We are not a minority party, we are a party that is active in the entire territory of Serbia, we have our representatives in almost all municipalities in the country,” the SDPS leader stressed. He added that the SDPS would be the only party aside from the DS that will be in the opposition on all levels. “Everybody will be in power somewhere, we will be in the opposition. But this is our choice and I think it is highly principled. I think it is some kind of investment in the political future because what we have now is a plain flea market,” Ljajic said. He added that the SDPS would support every reform law despite the fact that it would be an opposition party. Rasim Ljajic (Beta, file) Beta Politika

Nikolić’s offer was fair, SDPS leader says

“It would certainly be more profitable for the party in the short run to join the government and develop further, primarily in the sense of strengthening the party infrastructure. And when it comes to the party’s visibility it would be better to be a part of the future government. However, that would be highly immoral and unprincipled bearing in mind that we are on the Democratic Party (DS) electoral list,” Ljajić told daily Politika.

He stressed that a position would have been completely different if his party had independently won seats in parliament.

“In that case we would be able to freely negotiate and we could seriously think about taking part in it if we agreed on elementary principles,” the SDPS leader explained.

He pointed out that if it accepted Nikolić’s offer, his party would get a place in the government but “lose its honor”.

“We will demonstrate these kind of principles in the best possible way in Vojvodina where we were in the coalition with the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). We have two councilors in the Vojvodina Executive Council and if the SPS gets kicked out from the provincial council we will share the fate of the coalition we were a part of,” Ljajić was quoted as saying.

He said that the president had told him that the parliamentary majority already existed but that the SDPS had achieved a good result and that Sandžak should have a representative that won the majority of votes in the government.

“I only do not agree with a part of the explanation that we are a minority party. We are not a minority party, we are a party that is active in the entire territory of Serbia, we have our representatives in almost all municipalities in the country,” the SDPS leader stressed.

He added that the SDPS would be the only party aside from the DS that will be in the opposition on all levels.

“Everybody will be in power somewhere, we will be in the opposition. But this is our choice and I think it is highly principled. I think it is some kind of investment in the political future because what we have now is a plain flea market,” Ljajić said.

He added that the SDPS would support every reform law despite the fact that it would be an opposition party.