Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stepped down as leader of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) at a party congress on Saturday, saying a new approach was needed to unite the country. He will remain the head of the Serbian state and an SNS party member. The move came a day after tens of thousands of people rallied to support him in Belgrade. Leaders of the SNS accepted Vucic’s resignation offer and appointed defence minister Milos Vucevic to replace him. Vucic’s opponents and rights watchdogs have long accused Vucic and the SNS of autocracy, stifling media freedoms, violence against political opponents, corruption and ties with organised crime. Vucic and the SNS deny these accusations.
“A slightly different approach is needed to unite a greater number of those who want to fight for the victory of patriotic Serbia … a successful Serbia that will focus on its citizens, for a country that will not look for reasons for division, but for unification and togetherness,” he said.
Vucic became president of the SNS in 2012, replacing Tomislav Nikolic who held the post since 2008. The SNS holds a majority of 164 seats in the 250-member parliament. Vucic plans to launch an umbrella political organisation for the SNS and its allies, unofficially named the People’s Movement For The State, on June 28. Vucic became a nationalist political icon during the Yugoslav war and later embraced pro-European policies, proclaiming Serbia’s membership in the European Union as its strategic goal. He also maintains close ties with Russia and China.
An anti-government protest is scheduled for Saturday.
