Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic said she was serious when she accused N1 of paying people to attend a ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) rally in the Belgrade Arena.
A day earlier, Brnabic (a senior SNS official) told N1 that the station’s report which showed people being paid to attend the rally was “absolutely stupid” and denied any wrongdoing by her party.
She said the SNS does not have any good Samaritans. “The good Samaritans are the citizens of Serbia who voted in large numbers for SNS candidates to get into parliament where we get a large amount of money,” she said and added that the money was used to organize gatherings and other party activities.
Brnabic said that people can’t be bought for 3,000, 5,000 or 10,000 Dinars (1 Euro – 118 Dinars).
“I have to admit that I find it unbelievable that your media outlet has the same stories prior to every election,” she said.
According to her, the SNS has no need to pay people to come to its events. “I know the atmosphere when I go there, like I did at the Arena rally… Those are not blackmailed people, not frightened people,” she said. Brnabic said that it’s absolutely legitimate for the media to investigate claims like this but added that she was left with a sad and negative feeling because N1 “did not do the same with the blockaders” using the derogatory term for regime opponents.
Brnabic said the SNS would report what was spent on the rally to the Anti-Corruption Agency as she claimed it always has.
Source: N1
