Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić's penchant for constantly holding elections has not cost him his majority, but may have challenged his consensus in the capital.
With a voter turnout of over 55 percent, Serbs went to the polls for a new parliament and local elections for the fourth time in ten years. A contest between President Vucic's right-wing party (SNS) and a centrist “Serbia Against Violence” coalition that united the Freedom and Justice Party led by former Belgrade mayor Dragan Djilas and right-wing nationalists divided both sides this summer two mass shootings took to the streets to protest.
Vucic spoke of “a convincing victory”. Through the president's personal involvement in the election campaign (his picture and name appeared on both posters and the ballot paper), his coalition received more than half of the votes, namely 46 percent of the votes (for the 2022 elections it was 44, 28), while the opposition received 23 percent. It is more difficult for populists to maintain the position of mayor of the capital, as Mayor Aleksander Sapic and his challenger Vladimir Obradovic are directly opposing each other.
Some non-governmental organizations reported voting irregularities and reported the arrival of several buses full of non-residents ready to vote in the capital. Others spoke of pressure and alleged bribery to vote for the ruling SNS party. Allegations that were rejected by the authorities.
Vucic is seen as an autocrat who restricts press freedom and has often been compared to Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán, with whom he enjoys excellent relations. Despite the growing discontent, however, he is seen as the only credible leader on the international stage capable of managing relations with Kosovo and Belgrade's diplomatic spat between Russia and the European Union. Fears about regional instability reached a new height in late September when a group led by Milan Radoicic, controversial businessman and vice-president of the Serbian List party, organized an attack in the village of Banjska in northern Kosovo that killed an Albanian police officer.
The second issue is Serbia's tightrope walk towards Brussels, which now threatens to become even more complicated: In contrast to the neighboring countries Bosnia, Albania and North Macedonia, whose governments unreservedly support European integration, Belgrade – a candidate since 2012 – has not submitted to sanctions against Moscow to prevent this from worsening relations with a sister country on which Serbia is dependent for energy. A move that sparked criticism of Vucic's government and put Belgrade in Brussels' sights.