Fair and honest elections and free media – this is how we could briefly describe the conclusions of the joint platform created by the opposition and the body called Assembly of Free Serbia, stated in the document to be submitted to the government.
However, the opposition parties have not agreed on who should constitute the team of negotiators who will discuss the particulars in the document with government officials and the European Parliament.
There is an ongoing dispute between the opposition parties over who should make up the negotiating team. While, on the one hand, the People’s Party led by Vuk Jeremic, insists that two negotiators be sent for the talks, the Freedom and Justice Party, whose leader is Dragan Djilas, says that, since that is an inter-party dialogue, each party should have its own representative at the meetings.
However, there were no discrepancies regarding the demands contained in the platform:
– Appointing new management of REM (the state body that regulates electronic media) and new management of the Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS). The opposition will demand that the existing management of the REM and RTS be dissolved.
– Free advertising on the public broadcasters for all participants in the elections.
– Before the elections, campaign rules should be decided and pressure on civil servants to vote for a particular political option should be prevented. The platform also seeks stricter penalties for crimes related to election theft.
– Another of the requirements is the regulation of electoral rules, according to which the number one candidate on the electoral list cannot be a person who will not take part in the elections and does not have a residence in the constituency in which an election is held.
– The opposition also demands that the State Electoral Commission (RIK) should be formed in such a way that government representatives in that body cannot constitute more than 50% of the total number of members.
– Campaign financing: all the budget money allocated for the elections should be distributed equally to all election participants, i.e. the practice of giving parties 20% of the funds at the beginning of the campaign and only those who enter Parliament the remaining 80% must be discontinued.
– The opposition believes that all constitutional changes should be blocked until a new Serbian parliament is formed.
– The signatories of the platform demand that local, presidential and parliamentary elections be held on three different dates.
Finally, the opposition parties and Assembly of Free Serbia believe that at least six to nine months are necessary for the implementation of the agreement, after the end of the dialogue. Only after this period elections can be held.
(Nova, 30.03.2021)
https://nova.rs/vesti/politika/otkrivamo-10-kljucnih-zahteva-opozicije-na-pregovorima/
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