Veteran DS official confident party "will not collapse"

NOVI SAD Opposition DS party official Dragoljub Micunovic says "anyone who tried to leave the party right now and attempted to make a new one would certainly fail". "There will be no collapse of the DS. There will certainly be debate inside the party on many issues, and of course there will be differing opinions," Micunovic, who heads the Democratic Party (DS) group in parliament, told the Novi Sad daily Dnevnik. Veteran DS official confident party "will not collapse" Asked whether the DS was united, as some have predicted a collapse of the former ruling party and a breakup after the party assembly, Micunovic said the party needed to debate how to act as the opposition. "We will not significantly change our program and orientation. But in any case, our actions, tasks, concrete goals will have to be determined in line with our new position and circumstances," said the DS whip. He said he hoped there would be no turncoats among Democratic MPs. Talking about "retaliation" on the part of the new government toward former officials from the DS, Micunovic said he did not think "they would dare to go that far". "But their ambitions were already evident in the Law on Ministries. All their talk of depoliticization is empty. It has become evident early on that this will be a party state to a much greater extent than we could have imagined," Micunovic said. The Democrats were ousted from power in the May 6 parliamentary elections, while two weeks later, their leader Boris Tadic lost his bid to be elected Serbia's president for a third term. Dragoljub Micunovic (file) Dnevnik Tanjug

Veteran DS official confident party "will not collapse"

Asked whether the DS was united, as some have predicted a collapse of the former ruling party and a breakup after the party assembly, Mićunović said the party needed to debate how to act as the opposition.

"We will not significantly change our program and orientation. But in any case, our actions, tasks, concrete goals will have to be determined in line with our new position and circumstances," said the DS whip.

He said he hoped there would be no turncoats among Democratic MPs.

Talking about "retaliation" on the part of the new government toward former officials from the DS, Mićunović said he did not think "they would dare to go that far".

"But their ambitions were already evident in the Law on Ministries. All their talk of depoliticization is empty. It has become evident early on that this will be a party state to a much greater extent than we could have imagined," Mićunović said.

The Democrats were ousted from power in the May 6 parliamentary elections, while two weeks later, their leader Boris Tadić lost his bid to be elected Serbia's president for a third term.