Belgrade Elections Showed Opposition's Weakness: Experts

Last weekend's Belgrade elections left 20 of the competitors without seats in the capital's municipal assembly, among them the former ruling Democratic Party and the Serbian Radical Party, demonstrating that there is a crisis within the political opposition, experts told BIRN.

"For a long time now, we are seeing that voters are distancing themselves from the parties and at the same time turning to strong individuals or movements," said Bojan Klacar from the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy, CeSid. 

The biggest winner at the March 4 elections, with around 45 per cent of the vote, was the ruling Serbian Progressive Party.

The list led by former Belgrade mayor Dragan Djilas ranked second with around 19 per cent of the vote, while the list led by Aleksandar Sapic, the head of the New Belgrade municipality, scored around nine per cent.

The Socialist Party of Serbia, the Progressives' coalition partner in the state government, won around six per cent. 

All of these secured seats in the Belgrade assembly, but 20 other election lists failed to pass the electoral threshold.

"People have strong reactions to public individuals and to public figures. Djilas is a former Belgrade mayor, while Sapic is known as one of the most famous world water polo players," Klacar explained. 

He also noted that neither Sapic nor Djilas have their own political parties, suggesting that is not a priority for voters.

Sapic decided to run as individual, while Djilas decided to lead a coalition of the Movement of Free Citizens, headed by Sasa Jankovic, the former Ombudsman who came second in the 2017 presidential election, and the People's Party, headed by former diplomat Vuk Jeremic.

After the elections, Djilas told Serbian media he...