The opposition in the Kragujevac City Assembly found a way to deal with the progressives who do not want to put their proposal on the agenda and persistently refuse to listen to what the other side has to say. That’s why they decided to make tactics and “guerrilla” fight against the majority of SNS and SPS in the City Assembly. They chose to speak, but not to say anything while they are in front of the lectern and all this in a situation where the quorum for work is minimal, which directly forced the progressives to spend the whole day in the hall. Yesterday’s session lasted more than 17 hours, and at this rate, the councilors will sit for at least three more days until all 35 items on the agenda have been discussed.
The parliamentary majority in Kragujevac decided not to fulfill the opposition’s request to hold sessions under emergency procedure, and as a result they did not provide a quorum for work twice.
Instead of extending a hand to the opposition and sitting on the parliamentary bench to discuss, the government chose not to come to the session and continue as before.
Perhaps the progressives continued as before, but the opposition decided to change the type of struggle. Namely, she did not give up her request, while the government convened a new session according to the regular procedure. The opposition came to that session, but decided on a “guerrilla” type of struggle.
Since the progressives have a minimum quorum to work, the opposition decided to force the SNS and SPS to sit in the hall all day until all proposals are voted on. In addition, the opposition decided to fight back by remaining silent throughout the day and using the “filibuster” – a parliamentary procedure in which one or more members of the Assembly extend the time for the debate in order to delay a decision.
The opposition councilors went to the rostrum for all items on the agenda, stood and remained silent for the entire time available to them for discussion, that is, the heads of the councilor groups had ten minutes each, and the councilors had five.
Therefore, for each item on the agenda, the opposition comes forward, goes to the podium and remains silent. The time of the councilor groups is wasted, the progressives listen, but they cannot leave the hall because if only three or four councilors leave the hall because they do not want to “listen” to the silence, there will not be a quorum for work, so the session is interrupted.
Councilor Slađan Rakić said that they wanted to express their dissatisfaction by remaining silent.
“Since the ruling majority did not want to listen to us, that’s why 36 councilors of the opposition in Kragujevac expressed their dissatisfaction by remaining silent. Tonight, around 1:00 p.m., we finished only five of the 35 points. The president of the assembly moved the session to May 10, we are waiting to continue our struggle,” he told N1.
They were silent for a while, the government sat nervously in the hall, they even brought in food at times, for which the chairman admonished them.
Mayor Nikola Dašić told the Glas Šumadije portal that “silence behind the payphone is a classic form of abuse.”
Dašić said that the government does not avoid the subject of land expropriation “Zastava service”, but that it does not want to be “talked about in this way”.
“They presented a series of falsehoods.” The first is that the city of Kragujevac bought land that belonged to the city, which is absolutely incorrect. And verifiable. You go to the cadastre, look for the history of the movement of the parcel and check. From there, everything is untruth after untruth. We have the complete paperwork,” said Dašić.
BONUS VIDEO: At the bar, the opposition gathered around the SPN is realigning, some of them are waiting for a signal from Belgrade
Tags: Kragujevac filibuster assembly drove progressives madness VIDEO
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