{"id":218591,"date":"2026-09-16T15:16:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T13:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=218591"},"modified":"2026-09-16T15:16:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T13:16:25","slug":"branko-ruzic-on-the-october-25-elections-i-will-not-make-a-decision-just-to-have-my-name-on-the-ballot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/branko-ruzic-on-the-october-25-elections-i-will-not-make-a-decision-just-to-have-my-name-on-the-ballot\/","title":{"rendered":"BRANKO RU\u017dI\u0106 ON THE OCTOBER 25 ELECTIONS: I will not make a decision just to have my name on the ballot!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former vice president of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS<\/a>) Branko Ru\u017ei\u0107 said he does not rule out the possibility of taking part in the parliamentary<\/em><\/strong> elections<\/a><\/em><\/strong> on October 25, but that he will not make a decision simply so that his name appears on the ballot.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am talking to many people, and these conversations are serious. An independent list is one possibility. A joint list with people with whom there is sufficient political overlap is another. I do not rule out other models either. What I will not do is seek a political home at any cost,\u201d Ru\u017ei\u0107 told the Beta news agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked who he is talking to about continuing his political engagement, Ru\u017ei\u0107 said they are people he has worked with for years, including current and former SPS members, as well as people who have never been members of the party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am also talking to people from other political circles and those who have not been in any party for years,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He did not want to mention specific names because that would be \u201cunfair to them.\u201d Ru\u017ei\u0107 added that there is \u201cgreat dissatisfaction with the existing political offering and that this dissatisfaction no longer has a clear party address.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do not need political asylum for dissatisfied people from other parties. I need people who know why they are coming and what they are prepared to defend when things get difficult. It matters more to me why someone is with me than where they came from,\u201d Ru\u017ei\u0107 said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was expelled from the SPS on August 31, with the explanation that he had engaged in the \u201ccontinuous, conscious and deliberate violation of the Statute, failure to respect the obligation to implement the decisions of the party bodies and the unified policy of the SPS.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked where he sees room for the politics he advocates, Ru\u017ei\u0107 said he \u201csees many people who want change, but do not want chaos, people who are dissatisfied with the SNS, but do not identify with the existing opposition offering.\u201d \u201cThese are people who want an orderly state, job security, accessible healthcare, good education and the feeling that the state is not against them,\u201d said Ru\u017ei\u0107, who was a member of several previous governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to him, Serbia has been forced for years to choose between two extremes, while between obedience to the authorities and revolt against everything there is a \u201clarge Serbia that wants change, but does not want someone to endanger its normal life through that change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChange that takes away people\u2019s sense of security very quickly ceases to look like progress to them. That is why serious politics must offer both freedom and security at the same time,\u201d Ru\u017ei\u0107 said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked whether this means that he is now in opposition to Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 and the SNS, Ru\u017ei\u0107 answered in the affirmative, adding \u2014 \u201cif opposition means that I will criticize the authorities where I believe they are wrong.\u201d \u201cIf (opposition) means that I have to declare everything the authorities do to be wrong simply because I am no longer part of them, then no,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked what he objects to most about Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s style of governing, Ru\u017ei\u0107 said it was the \u201cexcessive concentration of political power around one man.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo state becomes stronger because one man is stronger than its institutions. Serbia must once again have a government that governs, a parliament that oversees the government, a judiciary that does not wait for a political signal, and media in which criticism of the authorities is not an incident,\u201d Ru\u017ei\u0107 said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He did not want to say whether he might cooperate with the SNS again after the elections, saying that before the elections he \u201cwill not trade in post-election combinations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor me, any future cooperation, with anyone, would have to have clear political and institutional conditions. After everything I have been through, I would not enter again into a relationship in which one partner makes the decisions and the other later explains why it was a joint decision,\u201d Ru\u017ei\u0107 said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding his support for the student protests, for which he was previously criticized by members of the SPS and the ruling coalition, Ru\u017ei\u0107 said that the protests had brought the issue of accountability back to the center of public life and shown that there is a generation that cannot be disciplined through positions, employment or party affiliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudents forced society to once again distinguish authority from office. They also showed that fear is not hereditary. The greatest service politicians can do for students is to stop explaining to students what students must be. Support is support only as long as you do not send them the bill for it,\u201d Ru\u017ei\u0107 said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the values he will continue to uphold in politics, he cited dignity, solidarity and justice, saying that these are \u201cthree concrete criteria by which you can see what kind of state you have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHuman dignity must not depend on a party membership card. Solidarity must not be charity handed out before elections. Justice must not first ask who you are and only then what happened to you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every serious political force must know where its red line is, Ru\u017ei\u0107 said, adding that every person must know where their red line is, and a person holding public office even more clearly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA red line is not just what you draw for others. It is also the boundary you do not allow yourself to cross. A person can lose their position, mandate and party. The most costly thing is when they lose the criterion by which they know what they can and cannot do. A person without a red line very quickly begins to live by the boundaries others draw for them,\u201d Ru\u017ei\u0107 said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about Serbia\u2019s prospects of becoming a member of the EU, Ru\u017ei\u0107, who previously served as the minister responsible for this process, said that Serbia \u201cbelongs to Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut European integration must not become a process in which Serbia fulfills the conditions for years while the goal keeps moving further away. Such a relationship erodes trust. Serbia also has no right to blame Brussels for its own weaknesses. No one in Brussels ordered us to weaken institutions, control the media or tolerate corruption. Those are our problems,\u201d Ru\u017ei\u0107 told Beta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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