With their suggestion about public debate for elections, @DostaJeBilo made quite an impact in political discourse here in Serbia. — Igor V. (@codeic) September 8, 2016

How important this movement became can be measured by reactions of other political entities when Saša Radulović as a leader make a suggestion. Many heads of parties in opposition started more open talk about presidential candidate. Pajtić (DS), Tadić (SDS) and Jovanović (LDP) all agree that this is a important idea, but they have different opinions on matter of details. It is all a political talk. All three of them were once part of Democratic Party (DS). With those “negotiations are imperative”, “it is too soon” and “how can it be done” statements they are positioning themselves for months to come. Nothing is sure, but democracy and progress are suffering when no one is making any real steps and continues with cheap politics.

Meanwhile, @demokrate, party once called a bearer of democratic reforms is having its own presidential elections. Good step forward. — Igor V. (@codeic) September 8, 2016

Democratic Party’s (DS) next president is going to be elected directly by members. This is a unique moment in Serbian politics.

Delegates will be deciding about same-sex marriage, NATO, unions and cooperation with @socdemstranka and @LDP, as reported by @OnlineDanas. — Igor V. (@codeic) September 8, 2016

Bold move is needed if DS wants to remain as a leader of democratization process. Question like these are open for public debate in last years and we still don’t have a clear answer from them. After ruling SNS basically stole “EU idea” there was not much else making DS and similar parties unique to their voters. Vučić is successfully balancing between East and West and that can be used as a weakness, with declarative stance about military engagement, same-sex marriages and other that is expected from EU candidate state. Cooperation with ex-parts of DS should be accepted only if strict terms about values are followed.

Some would say that 20k of them is devastating number of membership, but I look at them as core members. — Igor V. (@codeic) September 8, 2016

Yes, only four years ago DS had around 180 000 members. After losing elections on multiple levels that number shrinked to expected 20 000 to be verified as eligible to vote. Most of them are hard-core members, those who’d never lose faith in their party, even after disappointments from their leaders. For some, legacy is bigger.

* Featured image is taken from here and author is Sava Radovanović.

This text was translated to English analogously. Sorry for inconvenience. By the way, every now and then I am summarizing my tweets, making a longer form of my thoughts.



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