Belgrade Mayor May Be Serbia’s New Prime Minister

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By Bojana Barlovac

Leaders of the Democrats and Socialists, allies in the last government, have agreed that Dragan Djilas, the outgoing mayor of Belgrade, should become head of a new coalition government, a senior Democratic party source told Balkan Insight.

Such a government would consist of the Democrats, who won 68 of the 250 seats, the Socialists, who secured 45 seats, and the Liberal Democratic Party, who won 20.

Although Ivica Dacic, the leader of the Socialists, said on Sunday that he would like the Prime Minister’s seat, he is likely to again become Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, according to the source.

The Socialists, however, would like four more ministries, previously run by the United Regions of Serbia – economy, youth and sports, culture and health – as well as holding onto infrastrucure, education and the interior ministry. In the last parliament the Socialists had only 20 seats.

On Tuesday, Djilas, a Democrat, revealed that his party wished to form a government with the Socialist-led coalition and the Liberal Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party has refused to comment so far on whether Djilas may be the next Prime Minister.

“I don’t have the answer to that,” Marko Djurisic, chief of the Executive Board of the Democratic Party, told Balkan Insight.

If true, the scenario following the 2008 general election will repeat itself, with the Progressives holding more seats in parliament than any other party but not forming the government.

The next government needs to be formed within three months of the formation of the new parliament on June 8.

Balkan Insight

The Balkan Insight (formerly the Balkin Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN) is a close group of editors and trainers that enables journalists in the region to produce in-depth analytical and investigative journalism on complex political, economic and social themes. BIRN emerged from the Balkan programme of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, IWPR, in 2005. The original IWPR Balkans team was mandated to localise that programme and make it sustainable, in light of changing realities in the region and the maturity of the IWPR intervention. Since then, its work in publishing, media training and public debate activities has become synonymous with quality, reliability and impartiality. A fully-independent and local network, it is now developing as an efficient and self-sustainable regional institution to enhance the capacity for journalism that pushes for public debate on European-oriented political and economic reform.

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