The first full week of the campaign, from 6 to 12 November, was marked by the first three rallies held by the ruling SNS, which once again proved itself organisationally ready for the new election cycle.
Pro-EU “Serbia Against Violence” coalition submitted its list and is yet to hold significant campaign events, while the nationalist opposition, as expected, has already made the issue of Kosovo the central part of its campaign.
The ruling parties: SNS already holding rallies, economy and the threat posed by opposition in focus
Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) has already held three campaign rallies, in the cities of Leskovac, Pirot and Smederevo. In his speeches, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić highlighted infrastructure projects realised in the areas and promised additional growth of salaries, saying that by 2027 the average salary in Serbia will be 1400 Euros (currently, it is around 730 Euros).
Foreign and regional issues were not the main elements of Vučić’s speeches, but he mentioned Kosovo on all occasions.
“I would like to repeat this in front of you – Kosovo is a part of the Republic of Serbia. That is written in the Constitution of Serbia. It has been and it will be. And unlike those who would like to boast and sacrifice your children, I will protect the lives of your children and I will protect our Kosovo and Metohija”, Vučić said in his speech in Leskovac on 5 November.
A particular focus of SNS in the campaign seems to be on female voters. Having delivered a new mammography device to Leskovac, Vučić promised that all other towns in the area will get the devices as well.
In a campaign video released on 11 November, current SNS President Miloš Vučević stressed that “women are the pillar of the family, the whole society and our fatherland Serbia… they know that elections are not a plaything”.
The attacks on the opposition focused on warnings that they intend to unite despite large ideological differences just so they could get to power and reap material benefits. Vučić stressed in Smederevo on 12 Novemebr that the entire opposition is controlled by Dragan Đilas, leader of the Freedom and Justice Party (SSP). Đilas has, for years, been attacked by the ruling party for supposedly stealing millions of Euros while her was a mayor of Belgrade (2008-2013).
Supposed attacks on Vučić’s family, which the ruling party claims are coming from the opposition, were repeatedly condemned as well. In her speech in Pirot, Prime Minister Brnabić emphasised the attendance of her own mother in the audience, saying the she came to support President’s family.
Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), junior coalition partner of SNS, also started holding gatherings across the country. In his media appearances, leaders of SPS and Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić focused on the issues of national policy.
In appearance on Blic television on 7 November, for example, he said that Kosovo does not intent to de-escalate the situation nor to form the Association of Serb Municipalities. A day later, he met with the leader of the Socialist Party of Republika Srpska, saying that SPS is firmly behind RS in defending the Dayton agreement.
“Serbia Against Violence” starts mobilisation campaign, puts focus on corruption and inflation
On 9 November, Republic Electoral Commission proclaimed electoral list “Serbia against Violence”, which encompasses almost all relevant pro-EU parties.
Vice President of the Freedom and Justice Party (SSP) Marinika Tepić stated, on the occasion of the submission of the electoral list, that opposition parties had united in order to stop the decline of Serbia.
“We can enter the year 2024 in a liberated and safe Serbia, where citizens will live normally…where justice will be attainable,” Tepić stressed.
Miroslav Aleksić, leader of the People’s Movement of Serbia (NPS), said that it depends on the citizens whether Serbia will be freed from corruption, crime, and nepotism after 17 December and invited them to get involved in the process and vote for people who can bring stability.
“We will do everything to show during the campaign that we have a plan and that we are ready to support each other,” Aleksić concluded.
Tepić’s and Aleksić’s names are included in the name of the “Serbia Against Violence” list.
In the following days, parties that are part of the coalition have launched an active campaign on social networks to encourage Serbian citizens from abroad to vote in these elections.
At the same time, they started posting political messages that are aimed at, in their view, the current key problems of Serbia under the rule of the Serbian Progressive Party – deep corruption and economic problems, namely inflation.
Nationalist opposition: Kosovo as the main topic
The “National Rally” coalition, composed of Zavetnici and Dveri parties, as expected, put primary focus on Kosovo and criticised ruling party’s record on this issue. The parties released a compilation of recent speeches of their leaders, Milica Đurđević Stamenkovski and Boško Obradović, as well as videos of the protest against the agreements accepted in Brussels and Ohrid earlier this year, which they co-organised.
“Before you came to power, Siptar policemen didn’t dare put their foot in the north of Kosovo, and now they are keeping it under occupation, and every day they arrest one Serb”, is one quote by Obradović, who used the derogatory term for Albanians, seen in the video.
On 9 November, the parties also presented a list of conservative intellectuals supporting them. The list includes Ratko Ristić, Professor of the Faculty of Forestry, who is also a candidate for the mayor of Belgrade.
Two days earlier, Ristić, together with Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta, who is running on the “Serbia Against Violence” list, interrupted a conference on mining and mineral resources in the Belgrade Metropol hotel. The potential mining of lithium in the western part of the country has been one of the most controversial political issues in Serbia in recent years.
NADA coalition, composed of the New Democratic Party of Serbia (NDSS) and the Movement for the Renewal of the Kingdom of Serbia (POKS) held a gathering in the town of Osečina, in western Serbia.
“History will not forgive us if this generation surrenders Kosovo and Metohija. When it comes to the nation, the time is measured in decades”, reads the statement from the event.
