It is now official! Aleksandar Vučić has resigned from the leadership of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
During a party meeting held in Kragujevac this Saturday, Vučić proposed Serbia’s Defense Minister Miloš Vučević as the next leader and his proposal was supported by party members.
“Miloš is a dedicated official to the SNS and to the idea of an independent and prosperous Serbia,” declared Vučić during his speech.
He had previously announced he would step down from leading the party and starting from May 28th it is expected that the president will create a new movement in Serbia. However, Vučić will still be a part of the SNS.
According to his explanation, this movement will be broader than the SNS, as his goal is to get people who are not party members, to join.
Alongside former Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić, Vučić is one of the founders of the Serbian Progressive Party.
Ahead of its creation, they were high officials of the Serbian Radical Party led by Vojislav Šešelj, who is convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Vučić was elected party leader in 2012, the same year the SNS came into power. His decision to keep both the presidency as well as the chairmanship of the party has been widely criticized by the opposition and part of the public opinion, based on arguments that such a move is illegal according to the Constitution.
However, the case was never sent for assessment in the Constitutional Court of Serbia.
In his speech, Vučić also tackled the situation in the north of Kosovo, calling it difficult.
“The West aim to come out with a declaration against the authorities in Kosovo, just to satisfy us. But what can we be satisfied about? With this new reality that is completely against all laws and international norms? The resistance of the Serb population in Kosovo will be stronger, hopefully through peaceful means,” said Vučić.
