Mirković on the process of electing the REM Council: It feels like we are witnessing something we have already seen a few months ago.

"It seems that we are witnessing something we have seen before a few months ago," said Mirković for the Beta agency, pointing out that "today's statement from the Assembly President (Ana Brnabić) has raised the stakes and expectations, further radicalizing the electoral atmosphere."

According to him, there is an impression that many proposers, candidates, and representatives of the authorities have not learned lessons from the previous failed process, which ended with the withdrawal of seven candidates, including himself, due to irregularities and because the authorities did not respect the Law on Electronic Media.

"The lack of accountability from the Assembly representatives for the failure of the previous process significantly contributes to today's positions of part of the opposition and the Assembly President. Unfortunately, it seems that this is just the beginning of what we will witness during the repeated turbulent electoral process for the members of the REM Council," said Mirković.

He assessed that it is clear that based on numerous, as he stated, unfounded claims made today by Assembly President Ana Brnabić, "an attempt is being made to create a false balance that all proposers and candidates are the same, that no one is 'clean,' and that everyone, to a greater or lesser extent, violates legal procedures, which is an absolute falsehood."

"When such assessments are made at the beginning of the process by someone responsible for implementing and ensuring the credibility of the electoral procedure and someone who has absolute responsibility for upholding the law, it is difficult to estimate how this process will end. The positions expressed today by the Assembly President seem like a sort of alibi for everything that will happen in the electoral process, which is already 'sliding into a dead end' with an unpredictable outcome," said Mirković.

Therefore, in his view, everything happening regarding the election of the REM Council is a sort of test for representatives of the international community, especially the European Union, whose representatives are closely monitoring this repeated process.

Mirković was one of the seven candidates who withdrew from the previous electoral process for the members of the REM Council, and this time he decided not to run, stating that he withdrew from the previous process along with six other independent candidates due to illegality.

As reasons for not running again, Mirković cited the unacceptable wording in the explanation from the Assembly Committee for Culture and Information that concluded the previous process, as well as the rejection of a parliamentary amendment to alter that wording, along with the unpunished public labeling from the highest levels of government.

He noted that among the reasons are the absence of criminal and political responsibility from the Chair of the Committee for Culture and Information for the abuse of the Law on Electronic Media, the lack of desired synergy among all key actors in the nomination process, as well as the stance of some influential representatives of the international community regarding what transpired during the previous electoral process for the REM Council.

"All of these are pieces of the mosaic that contributed to my decision not to run this time," explained Mirković.

Source: Beta