And even his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS, conservative) should have no trouble winning both the parliamentary and administrative elections by a wide margin. Today’s consultation, meanwhile, was marked by a strong recovery in voter turnout, which is expected to be around 60%, around 10 points higher than the last legislatures of June 2020.
With the slogan “Peace and Stability”, Vucic convinced voters to go ahead with him. An election that took place in the shadow of war in Ukraine, weakened with the ups and downs of the pandemic but not yet eradicated. A campaign whose initially dominant themes were the fight against corruption and crime, strengthening democratic rights and protecting the environment, issues that remained on the sidelines, overwhelmed by the looming war and Serbia’s stance on the armed conflict in Ukraine not far away .
And the new tensions that have arisen with the Russian armed intervention, along with fears of possible spread of instability and threats to the Balkans as well, have given Vucic’s campaign further motivation and impetus, which add to the great economic and modernization results of the A Country, which has been preserved by its administration for the last decade, it has positioned itself as the only true political leader capable of keeping the bar straight and peace and stability not only for Serbia but for the whole guarantee region.
One eye on the EU and another on Putin
However, the war has put Serbia, and Vucic in primis, in an awkward position visàvis the European Union, with which accession negotiations are ongoing. While condemning violations of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, Belgrade refuses to abide by international sanctions against Moscow and invokes Serbia’s national interests, most notably the supply of energy at discounted prices and assistance in the thorny issue of the Kosovo. “For the future, it is primarily about preserving peace and stability and ensuring the continuation of economic progress,” said Vucic at the polling station, whose selfconfident and muscular politics are increasingly adopting nationalpopulist tones. Opposition forces that boycotted the last parliamentary elections in June 2020 took part in today’s parliamentary elections and their participation seems to have helped mobilize the electorate with a significantly increased turnout compared to the last elections. In any case, the new parliament will no longer be as monochromatic as the one that emerged two years ago with over 60% and 188 of the 250 seats won by the Vucic SNS.