Belgrade – The small European country, strategic for the stability of the Balkans, will go to the polls on Sunday, December 17 after a serious political crisis triggered by two mass shootings that occurred last May.
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On a dimly lit and almost empty street in the center of Belgrade, the country's capital, the corner of a building is surrounded by flowers and lit red candles that illuminate 10 photographs of victims, hanging on a glass door that is no longer in use. . It is the memory of the terrible shooting at the hands of a teenager, which occurred last May in Serbia, where this Sunday the early parliamentary elections are being voted on, key to the future of this country, important for the stability of the entire region.
It all started on Vračar Street, where the Vladislav Ribnikar school is located, the site of the first of two mass shootings (the second occurred the next day in a nearby city), which sparked the largest citizen protests in decades in this country. . The object of this rage: the Serbian president, the nationalist Aleksandar Vučić, and his formation, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
“Serbia against violence (SCV)” is the name of the large pro-European opposition coalition that emerged from those demonstrations and that now seeks to capture the discontent of thousands of people, who ask for progress in social justice and civil liberties in a country that, according to them, it goes in the opposite direction.
“In this country there is only one man in charge and that is Vučić, but people are fed up,” says Zoran Lutovac, head of the Democratic Party, one of the senior formations that make up the SCV.
The challenge is between the past (Vučić, a fiery ultranationalist in his youth, who has been moderating but who maintains, within the country, an exercise of authoritarian power and, outside, a balancing rhetoric between Russia and the West), or a leap towards a uncertain future.
“If we win, we will elect a technical government of non-political figures for at least a year to address the emergencies of this country,” he adds, citing corruption and the infiltration of organized crime in the State among the urgent problems.
An enthusiasm that some see as a utopia. “Frankly, if we talk realistically, I think there is no chance of the opposition winning parliament,” says Vojin Radovanovic, a journalist for the Danas newspaper.
This is also believed by many analysts critical of Vučić who consider that the ruling party exercises autocratic control of institutions and the media, which makes change difficult.
“The ruling SNS party has 700,000 members, 10% of the population. They are more of an employment agency than a party. Their electoral mechanism has been working very well for years: if you don't vote for us, you will lose your job,” argues Aleksandra Tomanić, director of the NGO European Fund for The Balkans and who speaks openly about the democratic crisis. For this reason, a part of the country also seems to be undervalued by propaganda.
Even so, according to observers, it is possible that Vučić's party loses Belgrade (they also vote in municipal elections), which would be more than symbolic, since this is where the mass demonstrations have occurred and it also has a historical parallel: the defeat of autocrat Slobodan Milosevic in the 1996 municipal elections. Years in which Vučić was Milosević's Minister of Information.
While Brussels and Washington watch closely. Not only because of the ambiguous and balanced relationship that Serbia maintains with Russia, its historical ally with which relations have recently cooled slightly. Also due to the open conflict with Kosovo, a former Serbian province whose independence Belgrade has never recognized. In September alone, 30 Serbian paramilitaries ambushed a Kosovo police patrol in northern Kosovo, which degenerated into a new crisis, which has led NATO to increase its contingent deployed in northern Kosovo.
In this climate, Serbs (6.6 million inhabitants) are called to the polls with an unusual expectation to elect the 250 deputies who will sit in their next Parliament (which will then have the responsibility of appointing the next Serbian Government ).
The paradox is that, despite the fact that in principle Vučić's position is not at stake (the presidential elections are held separately), precisely the Serbian president has been one of the most active in the electoral campaign. He has also said that he will resign if his party loses.
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