Day: February 1, 2014
Upside down to right side up
Serbia has been governed for the better part of two years by an increasingly awkward coalition of Prime (and Interior) Minister Ivica Dačić’s Socialists with Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić’s Progressives. The Socialists weren’t socialists and the Progressives weren’t progressives. Both have deep roots in Milosevic’s avowedly ethnic-nationalist autocracy.
This was an upside down coalition. The Progressives had more seats in parliament as well as the presidency. Vučić’s anti-corruption campaign made him the most powerful political figure in the government, overshadowing Dačić, who merits the lion’s share of credit for reaching agreements with Kosovo that have enabled the European Union to open accession negotiations with Belgrade.
The time has apparently come to turn things right side up. Calling early elections for March 16, President Nikolić explicitly intends to see Vučić take his rightful place as prime minister, atop a coalition still to be decided. The Progressives are expected to do well, at the least remaining the largest party in parliament. The main opposition, the Democratic Party, seems to be coming apart at the seams, with former President Tadić leading defections to some still unspecified destination. If needed, any number of smaller parties will scramble to join the Progressives in the majority. Read more
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