Yesterday, the election assembly of the Serbian National Defense was held in Chicago, which lasted for a full 7 hours and took place in conflicts and bickerings, to the shame of the oldest Serbian organization on the planet, whose American branch was founded back in 1914 by the great Mihajlo Pupin.
From the beginning, it was clear that this assembly would not be remembered for good, because members and delegates were greeted at the entrance to the building on Elston Avenue by three members of private security, hired by individuals from the SND Board.
It turned out that their role was to prevent yesterday’s vice president Hadži-Miloš Marinković from attending the Assembly, with the explanation that he was expelled from the SND after an incident in which he allegedly physically attacked one of the members, because of which he spent over two months in immigration detention.
Marinković appeared with a group of supporters so that, after he was not allowed to enter, as many as 6 police officers appeared on the spot, who came to restore order.
In the end, Marinković remained outside, and his supporters were allowed to attend the Assembly, but not to vote, because it was established that there is no list of members of the organization because the database was – stolen!
After a stormy discussion that lasted for hours, it was decided to apply a rule according to which the leadership of the SND was last elected several decades ago, and according to which only members of the Central Board, the Executive and Supervisory Boards, and delegates of local boards have the right to vote, although the number of the latter could not be most precisely determined.
In the end, only 14 people out of more than 50 who appeared on the spot received the right to vote.
Candidacies followed and as many as five candidates were proposed for president, significantly more than there were at the last few Assemblies.
In the end, Predrag Bursać from Chicago won by a narrow majority of votes, receiving 6 votes, one more than Dobrana Komnenić from Cleveland.
The current president, priest Saša Petrović, and Dragana Petrović were elected as vice presidents.
At last, a bitter taste remained in the mouth, and the future and fate of the Serbian National Defense, which, the impression was gained, has more clans than members, does not inspire hope and optimism.