Olenik: Vučić's resignation is political marketing, Serbia needs a „reset“

Aleksandar Vučić's resignation from the office of president has neither legal nor political significance, because his term expires in March next year in any case. That decision, like everything Vučić has done in recent years, is pure political propaganda, or political marketing, through which he is trying to present himself in the media as an ordinary man without state apparatus and state funds. Everyone knows that this is not true and that, once again, he is changing the narrative, but he cannot fool anyone with it, lawyer and Vice-President of the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina Aleksandar Olenik told ETV Portal.

As Olenik explains, Vučić is entering the election as the lead candidate on the Serbian Progressive Party's list, and the resignation itself will not fool anyone, either domestically or abroad.

MOTIVES

- That is just another act, as before. The very act of resignation shows that he cannot even do that properly, but has turned it into a circus show, once again promoting himself, complaining and criticising others - Olenik said.

He added that Vučić had accepted the constitutional provision under which he is no longer entitled to run for president of the Republic, meaning that he can no longer hold that office. As Olenik points out, this is the formal legal explanation, but our interlocutor is not certain that Vučić will fully respect the letter of the Constitution, and does not rule out the possibility that he will attempt to violate it.

- But essentially, what matters in Serbia is who has a majority in Parliament, because that is where power lies. Only when the president also has a majority in Parliament, as has been the case until now, does he not only have all the power, but there is also no control over that power - neither institutional nor non-institutional. That is what he has abused all these years - Olenik stressed.

On the other hand, given that, according to our interlocutor, the chances of Vučić winning a majority in the elections are minimal, the whole affair is pointless. Olenik also believes and hopes that the resignation from the presidency will be Vučić's final resignation and that he will no longer have an opportunity to submit any more.

„WHEN YOUR OPPONENT MAKES A MISTAKE, YOU SHOULDN'T INTERFERE“

He also believes that Vučić was unable to withstand the political pressure from the student protests and the Student List, which forced him to call early elections.

- Pressed and pushed by the protests and the Student List, he did not have the political strength and capacity to serve out his full term and was forced to call elections. Why he did not hold the presidential and parliamentary elections together on October 25 is an interesting question. I think he made a mistake there, just as Slobodan Milošević did, who also called early presidential elections, and Boris Tadić, who also called early presidential elections - and both of them lost. I think Vučić will have the same fate and lose both the parliamentary and presidential elections - Olenik said.

He believes Vučić would have had a better chance if the presidential and parliamentary elections had been held simultaneously rather than separately. Nevertheless, as he puts it, „when your opponent makes a mistake, you shouldn't interfere“.

According to our interlocutor, the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 25 are, in terms of importance, on the same level as the elections held in 2000, and perhaps even more important.

- It can be put simply as a choice between „us or a mafia figure“, that is fairly accurate. But, in addition to that, what is being decided is whether at some point we will become an organised, normal European state or remain a territory controlled by criminal gangs that merely perform state functions formally - Olenik emphasised.

FIRST STEPS

He pointed out that the first step that must be taken is to return the state to its citizens and institutions, and only after that can they discuss politics, the European Union and Serbia's European path.

As he said, it is now completely pointless to discuss differences within the opposition, because none of those differences can be acted upon while the entire government apparatus has been usurped. In Olenik's view, any division between those who supported the students and those who made the mistake of registering an electoral list to participate in the elections helps Vučić.

- I will also use this opportunity to call on the coalition that calls itself pro-European to withdraw from the electoral process, that is, to pull out of the elections, because that is in the general interest of all of us. It is legitimate for someone to put personal or party interests ahead of the general interest, but that cannot be concealed - Olenik said.

He is confident in the victory of the Student List and believes that there will be a „reset“ - the removal of Vučić's corrupt regime, as well as the opposition, and that - from that point onward - the construction of the state and its institutions will effectively begin from scratch, in accordance with the Constitution.

The goal of the Student List, he says, is to return institutions to the citizens and for citizens to once again take back the state from the hands of the mafia and corrupt criminal groups that, according to him, currently rule the country.

Olenik believes that afterwards, at the next elections, citizens will be able to debate political issues and freely choose and vote for the political options they want.

- Until then, the most important thing is to defeat the mafia in the elections, take back the state and strengthen institutions, free the media landscape, and once we achieve at least those minimum conditions, we can engage in politics normally, like the other countries in the region - Olenik concluded.