[ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
Presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in Serbia on April 3. It is believed that the big winner of the elections will again be President Aleksandar Vucic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Wherever Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic appears, those present greet him with national flags and loud applause. It is difficult to say how real these applauses are. But the fact is that all are well organized. Thousands of his supporters go to demonstrations by bus. Independent Serbian media claim that participation in these demonstrations is mandatory for employees in municipal administrations.<\/p>\n
“We want to go deeper than ever and show that Serbia is choosing the future, freedom and stability,” Vucic said.<\/p>\n
Serbia is facing pre-elections which will be held on April 3, 2022. This day it holds presidential elections, early parliamentary elections and local elections in Belgrade. The victory of President Vucic and his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) now looks certain. A large betting office in Belgrade offers only two euros in profit per 100 euros bet that Vucic will win. Polls also suggest that Serbia’s strongman could win the presidential election in the first round. The absolute majority that is in favor of the SNS also seems certain. While the divided opposition is given a chance only in the capital, Belgrade.<\/p>\n
As a camp commander<\/p>\n
Vucic is repeating two words – “peace” and “stability” – every day in every television interview. A message that has accompanied his campaign since the beginning of the Russian war against Ukraine. The EU candidate country supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity, but has not backed Western sanctions against Moscow. Not only because most Serbs see Russia as a culturally and historically brotherly state. Serbia also has its own interests, because it depends on Russian gas and energy. As for the issue of Kosovo, Russia supports Serbia and does not recognize Kosovo’s independence.<\/p>\n
Vuiqiiq also likes the fact that the war in Ukraine is dominating the media headlines there. As a camp commander, he calculates how many tons of canned wheat, corn or sardines there are in reserve in this country. He promises that with him there will be peace in the Balkan barrel of gunpowder.<\/p>\n
“Propaganda is meant to scare people,” says philosopher Vladimir Milutinovic, who wrote a book on Vucic’s rhetorical techniques. “The tabloids write that an economic collapse is inevitable elsewhere, that Germany is also threatened by famine. “Such statements are intended to present Serbia as an oasis of stability.”<\/p>\n
There is no job without a party card<\/p>\n
Aleksandar Vucic has held all the brakes in Serbia for ten years. His SNS party controls major tabloids and televisions, state-owned companies and local governments. Political opponents are regularly demonized as thieves and traitors on the talk show. Vuiqiet\u00eb himself describes his party as a “Catch-all” movement – a gathering place for all, mostly free from any ideology. The SNS has about 700,000 members – which is one tenth of the country’s population. For a good reason: Without a party card, a job in the state administration, public service or state-owned companies is almost impossible. What about the party program? The program is called Vucic.<\/p>\n
“The SNS also determines public opinion,” says Dejan Bursaq of the Institute for Political Studies. “This allows Vucic to send contradictory messages and call on voters from all sides. He makes deals with Kosovo, but spreads harsh nationalist rhetoric. “Or he boasts that Serbia was almost the first country to have enough of the corona vaccine.”<\/p>\n
“The regime has it all in hand”<\/p>\n
The opposition, on the other hand, has little chance of gaining support. Their main topics – corruption, environmental degradation and alleged links between the government and the mafia – are currently receiving even less attention, due to the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Just a few months ago, Vucic’s opponents hoped their topics would take precedence. At the time, environmental activists blocked highways across the country to protest a planned lithium mine in western Serbia. The British-Australian mining company Rio Tinto will destroy nature while the country will benefit nothing, project critics said.<\/p>\n
It was the first time Vucic had to move on to crisis management. And he was clear that this could jeopardize his campaign, so he revoked Rio Tinto’s licenses.<\/p>\n
The weekly magazine Vreme writes that such a political domination would not have been possible without the coordination of the majority of the media and the almost limitless financial resources of the ruling party. Investigative journalists recently discovered that between 2015 and 2021 the SNS spent about 23 million euros on election campaigns alone – three times more than all the opposition parties combined. “The regime has everything under control and can play cat-and-mouse game with its political opponents.”<\/p>\n
The opposition has largely boycotted the previous 2020 parliamentary elections due to unfair conditions. Several coalitions are now expected to enter parliament. The United Coalition for Serbia (US), made up of a wide range of center-left and right-wing democratic parties, could get between 15 and 20 per cent of the vote. Their presidential candidate, Zdravko Ponosh, the former Chief of General Staff of the Army, could win even more votes. The new left-green Moramo alliance could also cross the 3 percent threshold and enter parliament.<\/p>\n
Nationalism<\/p>\n
The nationalist right-wing scene, which is running with five presidential candidates and five lists, is going through a much more difficult time. It is true that many voters are open to patriotic and nationalist slogans. Over 80 per cent of the country’s citizens reject Serbia’s membership in NATO, and about two-thirds see Russia as their most important partner. However, right-wingers and nationalists do not really have a good chance of entering parliament.<\/p>\n
Political scientist Bursaq has an explanation for this. People have for some time been less interested in topics like the Kosovo issue than in social and economic issues. Nationalism today is not the basis of populism, but merely an addition.<\/p>\n
New debts<\/p>\n
“Vucic’s main voters have been the biggest losers in the economic crisis since 2012 – retirees, housewives and low- and middle-income workers. During the election campaign, the president promises new factories, highways and hospitals. “The message is clear: there is hope for Serbia and for everyone,” Bursaq told DW.<\/p>\n
Some observers warn that the government can respond to the current crisis only by taking on large amounts of new debt. After the election, food and energy prices threatened to rise even more. Analysts are also convinced that the pressure from Brussels will be great to participate in the sanctions against Russia.\/DW<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n top channel
\n<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n