Domino effect in the SPS: At least 10 officials have resigned following the expulsion of Branko Ružić

The Statutory Commission of the Socialist Party of Serbia unanimously decided, with all 11 members present, on August 31 to expel Branko Ružić from the SPS.

In the explanation of the decision, it was stated that Ružić had, over a longer period, consciously and deliberately violated the provisions of the Statute, failed to respect the obligation to implement the decisions of the party bodies and the unified policy of the party, and that, according to the assessment of the Statutory Commission, he had caused political harm to the SPS.

After his expulsion, Ružić announced that he would return his parliamentary mandate, and on September 4 he resigned from his position as a member of parliament in the National Assembly.

His expulsion, however, was followed by the withdrawal of several SPS officials from various parts of Serbia.

Ćurčić leaves SPS, differing claims regarding Stepanović

Among the first publicly announced reactions was the departure of Dejan Ćurčić from Kuršumlija, a member of the SPS Main Board.

Ćurčić and Milan Stepanović issued a joint statement in which they said they were leaving the SPS, directly linking their decision to the expulsion of Branko Ružić.

The two assessed that the SPS had strayed from its own program and ideology and stated that they no longer saw a reason to remain in the party.

However, in the case of Milan Stepanović, there are conflicting claims about the circumstances of his departure.

The President of the Executive Board of the SPS Main Board, Vladan Zagrađanin, later claimed that Stepanović did not leave the SPS because of the Ružić case, but that he had previously been dismissed as head of the Municipal Board in Kuršumlija due to a dispute regarding a letter sent to the party headquarters. Stepanović disputed part of these claims and maintained his publicly stated position.

Due to the conflicting versions of events, SNM does not include Stepanović in the minimum count of ten cases.

Ivan Đoković resigned from all positions, but remains in the SPS

On September 2, Ivan Đoković, a longtime SPS official and former Deputy Prime Minister of Vojvodina, resigned from all party positions.

Đoković resigned from the positions of Deputy President of the SPS Provincial Board in Vojvodina, member of the Executive and Provincial Boards, as well as member of the Main Board.

Mateja Ranković and Milutin Ružić resigned from positions and membership

As the immediate reason for his decision, he cited his public opposition to the expulsion of Branko Ružić and the support he gives him, along with years of disagreement with part of the SPS leadership’s policies.

Đoković, however, did not leave the membership. He stated that for now he does not intend to leave the SPS and wants to remain a member of the party to which he has belonged for three decades.

SPS Main Board members Mateja Ranković and Milutin Ružić submitted irrevocable resignations from party positions and membership in the SPS on September 5, citing the expulsion of Branko Ružić as the reason.

Ranković resigned from the positions of Main Board member, Executive Council of the Youth, Municipal Board of the SPS in Čukarica and the Executive Board of that municipal board, as well as the position of Vice President of the Youth in Čukarica.

Milutin Ružić resigned from the positions of Main Board member and President of the SPS Municipal Council in Čukarica.

Both also left the membership of the Socialist Party of Serbia.

Andrija Radivojević resigned from party positions

On the same day, Andrija Radivojević from Paraćin resigned from party positions.

Radivojević was President of the SPS Municipal Board in Paraćin, a member of the Main Board, and a member of the Executive Board of the Main Board.

His case differs from some of the other resignations, as he did not cite the expulsion of Branko Ružić as the sole reason for his decision.

Radivojević stated that he had long disagreed with the direction in which the SPS was heading, while the events related to Ružić solidified his decision, which he had already been considering.

He also assessed that a decision of such political weight should have been the subject of a serious discussion in the Main Board, with Ružić himself present.

Branko Prodanović left the SPS

The wave of resignations then spread to SPS organizations in Kosovo.

The President of the SPS Municipal Board in Zubin Potok and Main Board member Branko Prodanović submitted irrevocable resignations from both positions on September 6 and announced that he was leaving the party.

Prodanović cited several reasons for his decision, among which, according to his statements, are the loss of the SPS’s political independence, the party’s relationship with the SNS, and its policy towards Kosovo.

He also singled out the expulsion of Branko Ružić as one of the immediate reasons.

He described the manner in which Ružić was expelled as a worrying message to all those within the party who think differently.

Four more resignations from Kosovo

A day later, on September 7, KoSSev received four more resignations from SPS officials from Kosovo.

They were submitted by Ninoslav Đerić, Miljan Aritonović, Slađan Marić, and Nenad Savić.

However, their decisions are not identical: some officials left only party positions, while others also left the membership.

Ninoslav Đerić left two positions

Ninoslav Đerić submitted irrevocable resignations from the position of President of the SPS Municipal Board in Kosovska Mitrovica and member of the Executive Board of the SPS Main Board.

In his explanation, he stated that in meetings with the leadership he had pointed out the pressures, humiliations, and disrespect to which, according to his claims, SPS members in Kosovo are subjected.

He described the decision of the Statutory Commission to expel Branko Ružić as the event that tipped his decision.

In the letter he submitted, Đerić did not state that he was leaving the SPS membership.

Miljan Aritonović resigned from four positions, remains an SPS member

Miljan Aritonović, longtime President of the SPS Municipal Board in Kosovska Kamenica, submitted irrevocable resignations from four party positions.

He withdrew from the positions of President of the Municipal Board, Main Board member, Executive Board member of the Main Board, and member of the SPS Provincial Board for Kosovo and Metohija.

In his explanation, he cited disagreement with the way policy and decisions are made in the party, and particularly referred to the expulsion of Branko Ružić, assessing that this case shows there is less and less room for differing opinions and pointing out problems.

Aritonović explicitly stated that he remains a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia.

Slađan Marić left position and membership

Slađan Marić resigned from the position of President of the SPS Municipal Board in Štrpce and left the party membership.

In his explanation, he cited the Branko Ružić case as one of the key reasons for his withdrawal.

Nenad Savić left the SPS

Nenad Savić, Vice President of the SPS Youth in Kosovska Kamenica and a member of the Municipal and Main Boards of the party, also resigned and left the SPS.

In his explanation as well, the decision of the Statutory Commission to expel Branko Ružić was cited among the key reasons.

Thus, the resignations and departures have affected several local SPS organizations, including Zubin Potok, Kosovska Mitrovica, Kosovska Kamenica, and Štrpce.

At least ten confirmed cases

Based on publicly available resignations, statements by officials, and media reports analyzed by SNM, at least ten SPS officials have resigned from one or more party positions and/or left the membership, citing the expulsion of Branko Ružić as the immediate cause, one of the reasons, or the event that solidified their decision.

This number includes:

Dejan Ćurčić, Ivan Đoković, Mateja Ranković, Milutin Ružić, Andrija Radivojević, Branko Prodanović, Ninoslav Đerić, Miljan Aritonović, Slađan Marić, and Nenad Savić.

It is important to distinguish between resigning from a party position and leaving SPS membership.

Ivan Đoković explicitly stated that he remains an SPS member for now. Miljan Aritonović also explicitly stated that he remains a member of the party, while Ninoslav Đerić did not state in his resignation that he was leaving the membership.

For Dejan Ćurčić, Mateja Ranković, Milutin Ružić, Branko Prodanović, Slađan Marić, and Nenad Savić, it has been reported that they left the SPS membership.

For Andrija Radivojević, the withdrawal from party positions has been publicly confirmed, while his explanation is broader than the Ružić case: he cited long-standing disagreement with the party’s direction and assessed that the events surrounding Ružić further solidified his decision.

Milan Stepanović remains a separate case due to conflicting claims about his status and the circumstances of his departure and is therefore not included in the minimum count of ten.

Branko Ružić himself is also not part of this statistic, as he did not resign from membership but was expelled from the SPS. His resignation from his parliamentary mandate represents a separate political consequence of the expulsion.

Resignations have affected various levels of the SPS

The political significance of the events does not stem solely from the number of resignations.

Among the officials who have withdrawn are members of the Main Board, members of the Executive Board of the Main Board, the Deputy President of the Provincial Board in Vojvodina, and presidents of several municipal boards.

At the same time, the available explanations show that not all cases can be reduced solely to support for Branko Ružić.

For some officials, his expulsion was the immediate reason for leaving, while for others it appears alongside broader criticisms of the direction the SPS is taking, the internal decision-making process, attitudes toward differing opinions, cooperation with the SNS, and policy toward Kosovo.

Ružić’s expulsion thus appears in some resignations as a trigger for previously existing dissatisfaction within certain parts of the SPS.

Whether the series of resignations will end with the cases known so far or will spread to other officials and local organizations remains one of the questions for the socialist leadership in the coming days.