Fighting for Local Rule

Serbia’s parliament is debating a draft law on local self-rule, a term which has a symbolic importance in Serbian politics.

The Zajedno coalition, whatever that means now, is surviving in what it calls liberated towns, struggling to resolve the complicated relations between it's members and fighting against shortages and the government. A large number of opposition party activists won a piece of power in the form of titles when they won the elections. They’re logically defending their winnings, and that will take its toll on the balance of power among the opposition parties. Whether they realize it or not, opposition party chiefs are no longer as independent as they once were of the middle levels of their parties who now have a direct interest in obeying the party chiefs and influencing their actions to defend their own positions.

The Socialists realized that when they lost towns and cities, they were doing damage control but losing ground over the long term. They tried to adapt their local boards to opposition activities, but for now, they’re not showing any skill, because they don’t know how to be the opposition. State controlled media have been used against those local authorities controlled by Zajedno, trying to break up the coalition, and sparing the Serbian Radical Party in the process. They tried to get money out of the municipalities that they had lost. Vital public service companies under state control are working against the interests of the local authorities which responded with calls to the population to defend themselves through civil disobedience. That is a powerful threat. Potentially, the so-called civil society could turn into a society of disobedient and disloyal people.

That is the context that the draft law on local self-rule should be seen through since, judging by opposition claims, it strengthens the centralized authorities and gives them greater powers to dissolve municipal authorities.

The Socialists care most about the part of the law that regulates local elections. They first submitted a draft which introduced a proportional election system in several electoral units in every municipality. Then they took a more direct approach and submitted an amendment introducing a single round majority system with a larger number of election units in every municipality (the winner is whoever gets the most votes regardless of the turnout).

It’s not clear who counted on what, but it is clear that the Socialists’ basic assumption is that they won more votes in last November’s first election round than in any subsequent round. Perhaps they’re counting on being strong on the ground since they control large companies where fear of bankruptcy and layoffs is running rife and where the right votes could change that situation. The introduction of a single round majority system will force the opposition to join forces again. The opposition controls the polling stations in the towns it won in the elections, and that could give it an advantage in that system.

The start of this special session of parliament also marked the end of a record boycott of parliament which seems not to have achieved anything: the state media are still controlled by the ruling party; there is no live coverage of parliament sessions, etc. After a two year break, the Democratic Party (DS) and Serbian Civil Alliance (GSS) MPs came back to parliament stating that they were there to force the government to withdraw its draft law on local self-rule. The DS and GSS MPs submitted over 1,300 amendments to the law. The Serbian Democratic Party (DSS) and Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) still haven’t come back. In a reference to the SPO decision, Vuk Draskovic told his party’s assembly that they would always be the opposition to communism, not the opposition in communism.

Formally, the draft law has the support of the ruling minority since the ruling party’s coalition partner New Democracy (ND) said it would vote against the law. The vote showed that 117 of the 131 MPs at the session voted to adopt the law. That means that the ruling party has seen the law adopted (the Serbian constitution says laws are adopted by a majority of MPs at the session). The Socialists fear a possible SPO decision to return to parliament which would force the SPS to trade for the majority they need.

The ruling party seems to be preparing to pull some trick using the rules of parliament.

It seems that the opposition’s obstruction won’t upset the public this summer, and there are no signs of political mobilization.

The Socialists are preparing to get the law adopted and will wait for the right moment to implement it, but right now the conditions aren’t right.