Election Circles of Hell

One down, one to go. Or is there? Is there any sense in prolonging the agony or is it the right time for euthanasia? How long can we postpone the inevitable? I left Serbia, temporarily for now, but with every intention of making it permanent. Maybe it’s time to let it fend for itself. My candidate ended up 5^th. So we come to the delicate question: When is it time to stop compromising? To vote or not?

Now, I like Boris just fine. I remember him when he was just a psychology teacher. He was fun, and nice. I think, as a person, his set of values is in the right place. But we’re not voting for Boris anymore, are we? We’re voting for his policies, and his policies weakened his party and pushed it into a subordinate position in which they are bullied by kostunica into accepting whatever shallow pro-Russian, primitively Orthodox and uncritically traditional course for the country he has envisioned. If Boris gets backing from kostunica, it would clearly be blackmail again, another concession that civilized Serbia would have to make in order to avoid having a radical president. But is it worth it? Sure, the slow trickling of reform will continue, but the country will only sink deeper into lethargy. Should Boris be rewarded for his lack of courage and vision?

On the other hand, nothing but coming to power can stop the growth of the radicals. And let’s be honest, it will happen sooner or later. If nikolic is president, I’m sure it wouldn’t be long before we have a radical government. So what would that mean? In the short run, to be mild, nothing good. But it could get kostunica out of the picture forever. It could undermine the very existence of dss as their supporters would finally have to decide between DS and the radicals. It could liberate DS from their dss masters.It could strengthen LDP. And finally in power, the radicals would have the chance to show their incompetence and break all the impossible promises they have been free to make all these years. Preident Nikolic could be the one to finally, officially and unquestionably loose Kosovo.

So the question remains. Which of the two options that torture my conscience should I choose. To vote for a Kostunica-dominated status quo, or to stay firm, and for the first time ever not vote and let things take their course, even if it means a despicable victory for the radicals. Well, the next two weeks will show. Let’s see who supports whom, and who has what to say. Any ideas?