Although the elections have not yet been officially announced, student political campaign and power is in full swing. The current president of Serbia and candidate for the future prime minister, Aleksandar Vučić they have been playing matches with the election date for months, but their announcement, which would mark the beginning of the pre-election campaign, is a pure bureaucratic formality for the naive.
The government's strategy, which has been in a chronic pre-election campaign for more than a decade, is well known - bizarre twisting of messages and strategies of opponents. Thus, in 2023, after the mass murders in the "Vladislav Ribnikar" Elementary School and the villages of Dubona and Malo Orašje, the opposition coined the slogan "Everything must stop", to which the progressive regime responded in the parliamentary elections in December of the same year with the grotesque populist slogan "Serbia must not stop".
The authorities are now taking the messages from the students and completely twisting them. Thus, when students organized marches throughout Serbia, the government had its own "walkers" from Kosovo, then "Students are winning" stickers appeared, and the printing press of the Serbian Progressive Party began to stamp "Serbia wins" stickers. However, it took time for the regime to figure out how to imitate the "Student in every village" action and it figured out that it could reconstruct its well-known tent celebrations, which this time, apart from various regime analysts and ministers, will also be available to the electorate of the government.
TENT FUN AND RIDE IN A CAR
President Vučić claims that he is "not on the campaign trail" as he tirelessly goes around tent parties where roasts are eaten, brandy is drunk, and pop stars such as Ana Bekuta and Era Ojdanić entertain the crowd. At one time, the president also promised that he would visit Serbia in his old "Skoda", but not as an official, but as an "ordinary citizen". However, last week he chose another means of transportation, so he took a taxi ride in Belegis, in the municipality of Stara Pazova. At the same time, he announced for the umpteenth time a "big rally in Novi Sad", which he had announced several times so far, but which has not taken place in this city since the fall of the canopy at the railway station.
What can we expect from the authorities in the campaign when the elections are officially announced? Nothing new. We are expecting, as always, the asphalting of a few destination meters of country roads, solemn promises of a sewage network in settlements that have been living in feces for decades, packages of sugar and oil for the most vulnerable and the traditional one-time distribution of money from the state treasury.
It should not be surprising if the president during the election campaign jumps from a carriage into a combine harvester or an excavator, assuring the electorate that he is the biggest farmer or worker in this country, while the party machinery will bring people by bus to pre-election rallies all over Serbia to applaud the president simulating national satisfaction.
STUDENTS ARE LEAVING "DOOR TO DOOR"
On the other hand, students, unlike the progressives, admit that they are in the election campaign even though the elections have not yet been announced. Student Jovana Ignjatović from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade tells "Vreme" that, in addition to the "Student in every village" and "Student calls" actions, they also started a door-to-door campaign because, as she says, face-to-face communication is completely different from that through networks and media.
According to the latest public opinion survey conducted by the organization "Crta", citizens of Serbia state that the biggest problems they face are rising prices, violence, corruption and the arrogance of the government.
Student Jovana Ignjatović confirms these allegations. "From my experience, citizens' problems are mostly local in nature, such as water, sewage and roads. Also, people cite systemic corruption and economic problems, primarily the level of salaries and pensions."
Even in Andrićev venc, it is known that these are the biggest problems affecting the citizens of Serbia, which is why President Aleksandar Vučić, during his visit to Prijepolje last weekend, promised pensioners an increase in pensions, but only after they receive a "gift from the state" in about twenty days and a reduction in the price of medicines in mid-August. He also announced that the increase in pensions will be accompanied by an increase in wages.
When the elections are formally announced, the students explain that the essence will not change, but the scope of the campaign. "The campaign will remain based on what the student movement has been for two years, but we expect that during the campaign it will be more massive than ever, because a large number of people respond to our invitations to join the municipal teams", student Filip Kovačić explains to "Vreme".
The main asset that the students plan to use in the official campaign is that the candidates from their list, whose names will be known to the public only after the elections are called, among whom, they say, there are a large number of experts from various fields, will be present on the ground in conversation with the voters. "Candidates will participate together with students in the promotion of the student list program," announced Kovačić.
Jovana Ignjatović confirms that this is the only way, as she says, to break through the media blockade, because the candidates have no other choice but direct contact with citizens. "The candidates will have a certain media space, but they will also be involved in other activities and forums, given that some of them are experts in different fields," she explains.
WHAT ABOUT THE OPPOSITION
Judging by the current distribution of forces, opposition parties that plan to go to the elections on their own run the risk of officially meeting the campaign in the role of marginal observers. Suppressed by the decades-long media machinery of the regime, but also by the enthusiasm of students who have assumed primacy as "bringers of change", the opposition has a significantly narrowed space for attracting voters.
Some opposition parties, such as the Democratic Party and the Green-Left Front, supported the student list and thus, according to public opinion polls, sided with the strongest opposition option, while it seems that other parties that are planning to go to the elections independently, such as the People's Movement of Serbia and the New Democratic Party, may fall into the trap of mutual struggle for a small part of the electorate that does not believe either Vučić's propaganda or the students.
This group includes the Freedom and Justice Party (SSP), which at the end of June offered a plan called "Serbia after Vučić" in which it details the steps taken by the new government in the first hundred days. The president of the SSP, Dragan Đilas, said then that Serbia does not just need a change of government, but a concrete change in the system.
"This is not an ordinary change of government, because this was not a democratic government, so another democratic government is coming, but it is a serious change that requires a change in the system, because this government is dictatorial, autocratic, merged with the mafia, corruption is at every step, and the economy is in huge problems," said Đilas, emphasizing that through the government's calendar and precise deadlines, citizens must be offered a guarantee that the change will not bring chaos.
However, the question is how far such programs can reach the average voter when the government controls most of the media and students are leading the campaign on social media and on the ground.
THREE FRONTS BEFORE THE ELECTIONS
The upcoming elections will be a test for the government, the opposition, and the students. First, it will be shown how far the regime's tent circus really is and whether a deep social crisis can be covered up by baking, increasing salaries and pensions, and the president's trips around Serbia. Second, it will show whether the students' field work is sufficient to overthrow the well-organized SNS regime apparatus without classic party logistics. And thirdly, the elections will provide an answer to the question of whether the parliamentary opposition has enough strength to pass the electoral threshold and remain a relevant political factor.
The elections have not yet been announced, so the official campaign has not started yet, but it seems that the political roles have already been divided - the government under a tent, students "from door to door", the opposition is not aligned, and the citizens are waiting for "the day after".
Exclusive in August: Save three thousand dinars on the annual subscription to the digital edition of "Vremena"! Take advantage of the discount here and support independent journalism.
