The Vojvodina Assembly was constituted yesterday without the presence of the largest opposition list "Serbia Against Violence", which boycotted the opening session of the new convocation of the Parliament. At the session, however, the mandates of all 120 deputies were verified: progressives with coalition partners have 66 seats in the provincial parliament, "Serbia against violence" - 30, the Union of Vojvodina Hungarians - nine, SPS and NADA each won seven, and the Russian Party - one mandate.
The government, i.e. the parliamentary majority, will, without a doubt, be made up of SNS, SPS and SVM, as before. However, it is not yet clear who will be the president of the new convocation of the parliament, nor who will be the prime minister. It is an open question whether the tradition of SVM leading the assembly will be maintained. Let us recall that in the last three mandates, the head of the parliament was Istvan Pastor, who died at the end of October last year. Before him, for four years the assembly was also led by a member of this party, Sandor Egeresi.
If the post belongs to the SVM, the position will most likely be held by Balint Juhas, a high official of the SVM and long-time director of the "Prosperitati" Foundation, which donated several hundred million euros of state Hungarian, "Orban" money for projects primarily of Hungarians in Vojvodina.
There are numerous controversies about the way this foundation is managed, and it was publicly claimed that the money was distributed to party henchmen. It was also claimed that the money was used to buy the favor of voters for both SVM and Viktor Orbán's FIDES in Hungary (a large percentage of Vojvodina Hungarians have the right to vote in Hungarian elections).
Zvonko Veselinović's Current
As we learn, in the SVM itself, there is currently a struggle for the position of the party's first man, after the departure of Istvan Pastor. Allegedly, a fierce match is going on between Juhas and Balint Pastor, the son of the deceased president.
Connoisseurs of the situation reliably claim that the new Prime Minister of Vojvodina will not be the previous first man of the provincial government, Igor Mirović, who clearly lost the intra-party match against the current formal president of the SNS, Miloš Vučević, and Andrej Vučić, the president's brother. The latter duo will probably appoint a "trusted man", the lesser-known Damir Zobenica, as prime minister. According to public claims, the victorious progressive current is connected to the controversial Kosovo-Vojvodina businessman Zvonko Veselinović, the construction mafia and other criminal groups.
"Serbia against violence" does not recognize the election results
The president of the Provincial Committee of the Movement of Free Citizens, Ana Oreg, says that "Serbia Against Violence" does not recognize the election results at any level, given that "the resolution of the European Parliament requested an investigation into the elections in Serbia at all levels."
"We will act accordingly." This means that we will be vocal about this topic in the provincial assembly and we will participate in the work exclusively in order to reach as many citizens as possible. We will not have vice-presidents and we will not participate in those meetings where we agree on anything with SNS, SPS or SVM", says Oreg in an interview with "Vremena" portal.
She says that "Serbia against violence" will have more parliamentary groups, considering that in this way it can ensure more time for discussion. The parliamentary group in which the PSG will be included will also be members of the Democratic Party and the "Together" party.
"The topics will be diverse, but our parliamentary group will primarily deal with the position of Vojvodina. SNS, SPS and SVM have unfortunately humiliated the parliament of Vojvodina and reduced this institution to a deserted building that serves only to hide as many of their party soldiers as possible," says Oreg.
"Our work in that building will be marked by advocating for a modern, European, rich and civil Vojvodina," she says and reminds that PSG has been advocating essential decentralization and the passing of laws on more jurisdiction and financing of Vojvodina since its foundation.
