In Serbia, the increase in violence will be one of the determining subjects of Sunday’s legislative elections. The opposition accuses Aleksandar Vučić’s party of being responsible.
“Serbia against violence” : This is the name of the coalition formed by the Liberals and the Greens, who will face Aleksandar Vučić’s party in the early legislative elections this Sunday. This name directly alludes to the deadly school shooting that shook Serbia last spring. According to the opposition, the government is responsible for this trivialization of violence in Serbian society.
“We must choose whether the mafia, the ruling party will rule the country or law, order and the constitution”hammered Marinika Tepić of the Freedom and Justice Party during her last meeting with her supporters.
The pro-European opposition and many independent observers believe that Aleksandar Vučić, and his party, the Serbian Progressives are organizing this election to solidify their power. A common political tactic in Serbia for several years.
Since the Serbian Progressive Party came to power in 2012, four extraordinary and one regular election cycle have taken place in Serbia. In other words, instead of the constitutional mandate of four years, the National Assembly and the Government worked on average for two years and four months.
“It seems to me that more than the protests that broke out after the two massacres in May, the announcement of the elections was influenced by the incident that occurred in Banjska, in Kosovo and Metohija. Aleksandar Vučić is thus trying to avoid the criticism on the Kosovo issue. The opposition and the ruling party will take more care of the elections, the international community will not interfere too much in this process, and Vučić believes that with victory he will gain new legitimacy, while that the old crises will be forgotten”explains Dejan Bursać, from the Institute of Philosophy and Social Theory.
On September 30, Serbian paramilitaries ambushed a Kosovar police patrol in Banjska, northern Kosovo. This renewed tension has placed the Serbian president in the spotlight of the international community. But Kosovo is not a crucial subject in these elections because the independence of this state still remains a taboo.