Serbia Against Violence (coalition)
Serbia Against Violence was a political coalition of opposition political parties in Serbia. Formalised in October 2023, SPN took part in the parliamentary, Vojvodina provincial, Belgrade City Assembly elections and elections for city assemblies in other cities, all of which were held on 17 December 2023.
Background
In May 2023, two mass shootings, in a Belgrade elementary school and in the villages near Mladenovac and Smederevo, occurred. These shootings caused mass protests in Serbia, named Serbia Against Violence. Despite initially being organised by the Democratic Party (DS), Do not let Belgrade drown (NDB), Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP), Movement of Free Citizens (PSG), People's Party (Narodna), and Together (Zajedno) opposition parties, no party signs were reported to be seen at the protests. The People's Movement of Serbia (NPS) and Ecological Uprising (EU) joined as organisers in August 2023, while Narodna was excluded as an organiser in the meantime.
Formation
In early October 2023, the parties held several meetings to discuss the creation of a joint coalition. The agreement between the parties was reached on 26 October while a day later, the coalition, named Serbia Against Violence (SPN), was presented to the public. It was announced that Tepić and Miroslav Aleksić of NPS would be the representatives of SPN for the parliamentary elections, while Lazović would be featured first on its electoral list. Vladimir Obradović, an independent politician, and Dobrica Veselinović were presented as the representatives of SPN for the Belgrade City Assembly election, with Obradović as the mayoral candidate. It was also announced that ZLF would have the most candidates for the Belgrade City Assembly election, while Mila Popović, the head of the Forward to Europe (PE) councillor group, would be featured first on its electoral list for Belgrade. SPN announced that it would also contest the Vojvodina provincial election.
Elections and aftermath
SPN officially began campaigning on 16 November, holding its first convention in Belgrade. It later continued campaigning in cities and municipalities such as Niš, Leskovac, Trstenik, and Valjevo. Besides the conventions, Lazović announced that SPN activists would conduct on-street campaigns and door-to-door campaigns. On 30 November, SPN signed a cooperation agreement with the Association of Trade Unions of Retired Military Personnel of Serbia. On the same day, Lazović, Biljana Đorđević, Borko Stefanović, Natan Albahari, and Ksenija Marković, representing the SPN coalition, met with Bundestag representatives of the ruling political parties of Germany. "Change has begun" (promena je počela) was the coalition's slogan during the campaign. Attended by several thousand supporters, SPN held its last campaign on 12 December in Belgrade. In the parliamentary election, SPN won 65 seats, while in the Belgrade City Assembly election, SPN won 43 seats. In the Vojvodina provincial election, SPN received 30 seats.
Imagem: Srbija protiv nasilja · BY-SA · Openverse
SPN was composed of pro-European political parties, commonly known as the civic opposition (građanska opozicija), which were opposed to the ruling Serbian Progressive Party. Shortly after the formation of SPN, The Guardian described it as centrist. During the campaign period, Politico and BBC News saw SPN as a big tent coalition; political scientist Filip Balunović also described SPN as a big tent coalition with left-leaning themes. Journalist Antonela Riha described SPN as a coalition of "pro-European, centrist, and left-wing parties", while Bloomberg News described SPN as a "pro-Western liberal bloc". Saša Dragojlo of Balkan Insight said that SPN is a "liberal, centrist, pro-European" coalition. The European Conservative described SPN as a left-liberal bloc, while France 24 and Reuters described SPN as a centre-left alliance. Alongside its pro-Western sentiment, SPN also been noted for its anti-corruption rhetoric and support for such measures. Tepić has self-described SPN as a pro-European coalition and that SPN has "zero tolerance towards corruption and crime" (nultu toleranciju na korupciju i kriminal) and that it supports the "depoliticisation of the judiciary and the police" (depolitizaciju pravosuđa i policije). SPN supported the formation of a technical government after the 2023 elections, in case of a SPN victory.
Imagem: Serbia Against Violence · BY-SA · Openverse
At the time of its formation, SPN had DS, SSP, Together, ZLF, NPS, PSG, EU, and SRCE as its members, including minor parties and organisations such as Movement for Reversal, United Trade Unions of Serbia "Sloga", and Fatherland, which were all SSP-affiliated members, and New Face of Serbia (NLS), affiliated with NPS. On 3 November, the Civic Democratic Party and Romanian Party became members of SPN. The Action of Progressive Vojvodina also filed several of its candidates for the Vojvodina provincial election. After negotiations with NPS, the Social Democratic Party, led by former president of Serbia Boris Tadić, announced on 2 November that it would contest the elections with SPN. However, NPS ultimately declined SDS joining SPN, with Aleksić stating that SDS "answered too late" (prekasno odgovorili). Aleksić later said that he was in favour of SDS being on the SPN electoral list, however that "within [SPN] there were different views" (bilo različitih stavova) which resulted "that one part of SDS becomes part of 'Serbia Against Violence', but that the party forms another coalition" (što je na kraju rezultiralo da jedan deo SDS-a bude deo 'Srbije protiv nasilja', a da stranka pravi, ipak, drugu koaliciju). Aleksandar Ivanović and Goran Radosavljević switched their affiliations from SDS to Aleksić's NPS and SDS later formed a coalition with Enough is Enough and Stolen Babies for the 2023 elections.
