MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. Given that parliament fully backs Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, he has no need to give into pressure to hold snap elections amid ongoing protests in the country, Director of the Progressive Politics Foundation and founder of the "Balkanist" portal Oleg Bondarenko told TASS in an interview.
"Aleksandar Vucic is already in the second half of his second presidential term. The next presidential election is scheduled for April 2027. I find it unlikely that he would expedite them," the analyst noted. "As for parliamentary elections, they were held in late 2023, and Aleksandar Vucic currently has a stable majority in parliament."
At the same time, the expert pointed out that holding new parliamentary elections is one of the demands of the protesters, and any inconsistency by those in power at the moment could "backfire quite horrendously." "If the government is making concessions to the protestors’ demands one day and drastically changing course the next, that would raise questions, possibly triggering an even larger wave of protesters at any moment," he explained.
Two camps, communication breakdowns
Bondarenko emphasized that the situation in Serbia is highly incendiary. "Essentially, the country is divided into two camps: on one side, there are the students and those trying to control them, and on the other, those who are already fed up with these blockades, those who have long been urging the authorities to remember that they are the ones in charge and start acting that way in order to finally restore law and order," he said.
According to the expert, while society is split down the middle, geopolitics has nothing to do with it: "there is no pro-Russia versus pro-Europe conflict here," Serbian society as whole remains largely "Russophile," older and younger generations alike. "The societal rift is mostly caused by style of governance: the younger generation is livid with Vucic for the way he rules, while the older generation sees it as less of an issue," the analyst added.
Bondarenko noted that Vucic is experiencing a communication breakdown in relations with a few categories of Serbian citizens, particularly the intelligentsia, who shape public opinion, and young people. "This is the key issue at hand here: Vucic failed to find a suitable representative in education or among students who could attempt dialogue on equal terms," the analyst noted.
"I believe that Serbian society needs compromise. There can be no unilateral victory of one camp over the other here. That would be a disaster. Compromise is the answer. Only compromise, a real societal consensus is what can save Serbia," Bondarenko concluded.
Protests in Serbia
According to Serbia’s Interior Ministry, on June 28, about 36,000 people participated in an unauthorized opposition protest rally. During clashes with the protesters, law enforcement operatives had to use crowd-control measures to push them out of central streets. As a result of disturbances in Belgrade, 48 police officers were injured, 77 individuals were detained, including one minor.
Overnight into June 30, the rioters blocked key transportation hubs in Belgrade and other cities, erected barricades and tents, demanding the release of those detained, holding elections and dismantling the tent camp of Vucic’s supporters near the parliament building.