img
White City, 7°C
Time Logo
  • Sign up
  • Subscription
0
  • Newest
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Society
  • The World
  • 2026 Elections
  • Culture
  • Mozaik
  • Comment
  • Printed edition
  • Archive
  • Newsletter
  • Podcast
  • Newest
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Society
  • The World
  • 2026 Elections
  • Culture
  • Mozaik
  • Comment
  • Printed edition
  • Archive
  • Newsletter
  • Podcast

Latest Edition

Add to cart

Analyze

For or against Vučić: Has a "referendum atmosphere" prevailed in Serbia?

September 18, 2026, 17:25 am Andrei Ivanji
A huge number of people in Slavia at the student protest on March 15, 2025. Photo: Tanjug/Marko Djokovic
Large student protest in Belgrade, March 15, 2025.
Copied

One thesis is that in Serbia there is a referendum atmosphere for and against the government in which the opposition coalitions that go to the elections only bother the Student List. The second is that there is no referendum atmosphere because the students refused to cooperate with parties that are also against the progressive government. And the third, that Vučić is definitely winning "anti-Serbs"

The regime of Aleksandar Vučić is afraid that on vnext parliamentary elections October 25th does not prevail referendum atmosphere in which citizens will simply declare themselves for and against the government, and there will be no wasted votes. In such a balance of power, he sees the greatest danger to his own survival.

Accordingly, the narrative from the top of the government, which is broadcast day and night by the regime media, is that there is no referendum atmosphere, but that "blockaders-terrorists", which are kept on a chain by foreign services, set their sights on Aleksandar Vučić because he is the one who defends the sovereignty, integrity and prosperity of Serbia.

It is strictly avoided to talk about "students", because of the positive connotation of that word, but, if absolutely necessary, the phrase "so-called students" is used, which is also an association with "so-called Kosovo", because that, the regime's media platforms say, otherwise all together, with all Ustashas and bali, are drawn to the same, anti-Serbian side.

The regime is trying to prove that there is no referendum atmosphere with the message that the citizens of Serbia certainly recognized what would threaten them if the "blockade list" accidentally got hold of the government, so that it is not disputed that the "Aleksandar Vučić - United Serbia" list will win.

Photo: FoNet/Instagram milosvucevic
Meeting of SNS

"The referendum atmosphere died in childbirth"

"If the question arises of the referendum atmosphere, whether it exists or not and whether we destroy it - the referendum atmosphere died in childbirth, yesterday we gave it a year of remembrance", said Zdravko Ponoš, one of the holders of the list of the "European Serbia" coalition, on Thursday on N1 television.

Because, he reasoned, it "disappeared when the representatives of the student organization said they did not want cooperation with the opposition".

Photo: Milica Vučković/FoNet
Zdravko Ponoš, one of the holders of the "European Serbia" list

This is how Ponoš responded to the accusations that his coalition and the coalition "Authentic right wing" are disrupting the referendum atmosphere by going to the elections on their own, instead of supporting the Student List, like most of the opposition parties and organizations.

Nebojša Krstić, one of the most engaged regime analysts, praised Ponoš for such an attitude on Informer TV and told the representatives of Dragan Đilas's coalition not to give in under the pressure of the "masked lynch mob".

Smaller lists between the hammer and the anvil

According to publicly available public opinion polls, two blocs will have absolute dominance in the parliamentary elections - "Student list - Students are winning" and the list led by Aleksandar Vučić.

The two opposition coalitions that have decided to go to the elections say that there is a large number of conservative opposition voters who will not vote for an innovation such as the Student List and who would abstain if they could not vote for established political parties that advocate pro-European, that is, nationally oriented politics.

Photo: Photo: Nenad Mihajlovic/Nova.rs
"Student List - Students Win"

Andrej Ševo, a researcher at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, believes, however, that in these conditions, in the referendum atmosphere, the chances of passing the census decrease for all minor participants in the elections.

"In the referendum atmosphere, there is a growing risk that voters will believe that a vote for smaller lists is a wasted vote. That is why it was desirable for the opposition to unite," he told "Danas".

Tamara Bajčić, the executive director of Demostat, adds that the decision of the "People's Serbia" coalition to still support the student list further crystallizes the referendum atmosphere between the two main competitors in the elections:

"The referendum atmosphere usually generates a higher turnout in the elections which often reduces the chances of all the options fighting for the census".

The time has come for change.

The lively discussion for and against the "referendum atmosphere" actually revolves around whether or not the "European Serbia" and "Authentic Right" coalitions will cross the threshold of three percent. If they do not pass it, instead of gaining a hundred and more thousand votes, the anti-regime forces would share those votes with Vučić's United Serbia in the proportional electoral system.

Dragan Popović, director of the Center for Practical Politics, said in a guest appearance on TV N1 that "for two years now we have been watching the stable creation of a referendum atmosphere" because for the first time a part of society that organized for democracy offered organized resistance to an undemocratic regime and, most importantly, "began to believe that success is possible."

Photo: Senad Zupljanin/FoNet
The student movement has been creating a referendum atmosphere for two years

"You can now hear people on the street saying 'now or never', 'it's high time', 'that moment has come... Such sentences are said when a referendum atmosphere is created,'" says Popović.

He says that he would be surprised if someone else on the opposition side besides the Student List managed to enter the Assembly, but that does not give anyone the right to accuse those people of working for Vučić.

 

Real journalism costs money, and we will not be bought by tycoons and corporations. Support us with a one-time or monthly donation. The time for it is now!

Tags:

Extraordinary parliamentary elections Student List - Students Win Authentic right wing European Serbia referendum atmosphere
Copied

In between

What is happening in the country and the world, what is in the newspapers and how to pass the time?
Every Wednesday at noon In between arrives by email. It's a pretty solid newsletter, so sign up!

More from the News section

News

13.November 2026 M.T.

The unions of RTS and RTV supported the students' request for information of public importance

Two unions of public services supported the request of FDU students for information about RTS employees, since claims appeared in the public that it was a request for "files". The students say they are looking for "public truth about public service."

News

13.November 2026 M.T.

The striker from Kosjerić is among those pardoned, but - partially

Among those pardoned is the man who attacked a citizen who came to ask about the street in the office of the mayor of Kosjerić in April. The pardon applies only to one of the two offenses, and the injured party announces a constitutional appeal.

News

13.November 2026 MT

Completed consultations before the constitutive session of the Assembly

Before the constitutive session of the new convocation, consultations were held with representatives of all the lists that entered the Assembly. The student movement said in advance that they will not turn those talks into political agreements.

Vladan Djokic

News

13.November 2026 MLJ

Rector Đokić: They have been following me for a year and a half

The rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić, claims to Danas that he has been monitored for a year and a half and that he suspects that listening devices are in his office at the Rectorate, at the faculty, in his car and at home.

wolf tiktok

News

13.November 2026 A.M.

"Leader of the opposition" Vučić: See you on social networks

After the election defeat, Vučić is increasingly addressing his supporters via TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, where his posts receive hundreds of thousands of views.

Comment
Victory, Celebration

Comment

In the beginning was virtue.

At the moment when the institutions of the Republic are destroyed, when Vučić's octopus is still alive, when people are disgusted by the injustice and the stench left behind by the Essenes regime, we have, as Machiavelli said, only civic virtue as the fuel with which we can return to the beginning

Ivan Milenkovic
Session of the Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media

Comment

REM: Praise for perseverance

The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub Šabić even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over

Ivan Milenkovic

Comment

Vučić's pardons: It is time to abolish the sultan's powers

Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system

Nemanja Rujevic
See all
Time 1871
Last edition

Interview: Branko Stamenković, public prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office

A black picture and the breakdown of the rule of law subscribe
How to form a new government

Unity of freethinkers

Post-election America

Twilight of Trumpism

Interview: Ofer Kassif, Member of the Knesset, Israel

When Jews stand up for Palestinian rights

The Tradwives Movement

A novel that is fought over

See all

Archive

The archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.

See all
Time 1871 11.11 2026.
Time 1870 04.11 2026.
Time 1869 28.10 2026.
Time 1868 21.10 2026.
Time 1867 14.10 2026.
Time 1866 07.10 2026.
Time 1865 30.09 2026.
Time 1864 23.09 2026.
Time 1863 16.09 2026.
Time 1862 09.09 2026.
Time 1861 02.09 2026.
Time 1860 26.08 2026.
Time Logo
  • Editorial office
  • Subscription
  • Marketing
  • Terms of use
  • Newsletter
  • Projects
Follow us:

© 2026 Time, Belgrade. Developed by cubes

Mastercard Teacher visa Dina American Express Understanding WSPAY Visa-Secure Mastercard Secure