Election campaign in Serbia under shadow of Ukraine's Russian occupation

The Russian aggression in Ukraine, which began several days after the official appointment of the election date, had a profound impact on the campaign in Serbia, where most citizens support military neutrality.

Bojan Klacar, from the CeSID organisation, said Russian aggression in Ukraine prompted change of key campaign topics such as corruption, ecology and rule of law.

The “Electorate is now seeking answers to concerns regarding economic sustainability, standard of living and political sustainability”, he said.

It seems that the ruling party was better able to adapt its campaign to citizens' concerns.

We have survived that war and many wars. With it, at least we have peace and stability”, says Radmila, supporter of President Vucic.

Aleksandar Vucic's Progressive Party is expected to be the winner according to polls, but is unlikely to hold an overwhelming majority of 188 deputies in the 250-seat parliament.

A recent poll by the organisation Factor Plus, which was published in the daily Blic on Wednesday, releases this winning party with 53 per cent of the vote.

A grouping of some opposition parties called the Alliance for Victory, according to polls ranks second with 13.7 per cent of the vote, while the Socialists, who are coalition partners with the Serbian president, will be third with about 10 per cent.

A group of ecological movements formed less than a year ago is expected to receive 4.7 per cent of the vote.

Aleksandar Vucic himself is expected to win in the first round Sunday. Zdravko Ponos, general and former army chief of staff, who were expected to be second, accused the Serbian president of using the war in Ukraine in trying to build national unity over “the fear of people from the war in Ukraine”.

An old politician who was minister of information in 1998 in former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's government by 2008 Vucic had been an anti-Western disciple of the ideology of Great Serbia, which sparked the wars of the 1990s following Yugoslavia's breakup.

He became a politician seeking membership in the European Union after being split by the Serbian Radical Party and now advocates military neutrality and ties with Western countries and Russia and China simultaneously.

Since 2012, when his party came to power, Aleksandar Vucic held several positions: defence minister, prime minister and president since 2017.

Critics say his popularity rests on the autocratic style of governance, which includes strong media control and benefits such as employment in state companies only for its supporters.

Opposition parties say elections will be manipulated and warn that names are growing on voter lists.

“I think he's been badly damaged and if he doesn't steal (votes) and everything shows that he's going to do it, I think we're going to win this time and we're going to get him”, Zdenka Bulic, the opposition supporter in Serbia. / VOA