Rector Đokić in the campaign before the campaign?

While President Aleksandar Vučić announces that he will start the campaign with damage, and his tabloids are already grinding, the rector of Belgrade University Vladan Djokic has not yet been officially confirmed as the holder of the Student List.

That list is not even close to being finalized yet, but in its working version that was leaked to the public, Đokić's name is on the first place.

But has Đokić already started the campaign? It is in Raška on Saturday (July 18) was invited by students and addressed the audience while holding a red "Students Win" t-shirt that he got from one of the booths.

Đokić was there as part of the "Student in every village" action, but he did not want to confirm that he will be the holder of the list.

Just a few days ago he told "Vreme" for the first time: "Students did ask me if I would like to be on the list and I said yes."

Regarding the elections themselves, he repeated what he said to "Vreme", that it is not worth commenting on the date announcements made by Vučić because one should not "fish" for propaganda.

Photo: Lenka Pavlović

"When the elections are announced, then we will be able to speak concretely. The only thing that is certain is that the student movement will be ready whenever the elections are. That will be the moment to find out many more things, and until then speculations should not be given importance," Đokić told "Vreme".

Only masochists are waiting.

Đorđe Vukadinović, editor of New Serbian Political Thought, tells Danas that formally speaking, there can be no campaign before the elections are announced, and before someone is officially announced as a candidate.

"However, given that the regime and Vučić's campaign is definitely in full swing, it would be crazy and masochistic for everyone else to wait for its official start, which would only increase the already large initial advantage that the government has in every campaign," he adds.

For this reason, Vukadinović believes that it is no surprise if Đokić also started a kind of campaign, albeit an unofficial one.

When asked if he believed in the victory of the Student List, Đokić told Vreme: "Victory is certain. Students are the future. No government can defeat its youth. Students have more and more support, and the government has less and less support. I am convinced that the students will win."