Top DS official in Vojvodina to run for party leader

Top DS official in Vojvodina to run for party leader

BELGRADE -- DS leader Dragan Đilas has told the daily Blic that Bojan Pajtić told him personally he would be a candidate for president of the Democratic Party (DS).

However, Đilas did not wish to say how Pajtić explained his decision. Pajtić currently heads the DS in Vojvodina and is also the head of the provincial government.

"These things are something that should remain between the two of us. He decided to run for president and it is his legitimate right," said Đilas.

Asked whether he believes that after May 31, when the party will hold its electoral assembly, he would remain at its helm, Đilas replied that he would not be running if he did not believe in this outcome.

"It is in the tradition of the DS to have several candidates. I am aware that some citizens will say, 'enough already', but obviously that is what the DS is, and this democratic trait should be treated as our quality," he told the newspaper.

Đilas then added that he would offer DS members "a way of leading the party that is different."

"It will not be like it was at during the time of Boris Tadić, (when) everyone would raise their hands in favor of everything that was said, and it will not be the way it was during the past year, when the president of the party was constantly fighting with the opposition within its own ranks, which had the support of the government and the media that the government controls. Instead of telling the citizens about our solutions, it seems that we are constantly dealing with ourselves," said Đilas.

When asked who the DS was "indebted to," he said that while led by Tadić, the party "spent more money on elections...