Recent developments in Kosovo, extraordinary elections in Serbia?

The recent developments in Kosovo, the tragic events and the failures of Serbia, have opened the debate about the general elections. But what do these elections bring?

A series of resignations of mayors across Serbia leads to the conclusion that Serbia is preparing for parliamentary, local and regional elections. According to current estimates, the elections can be held on December 17, and in addition to the resignation of the mayors, the Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, is also expected to resign. This is a kind of response to a part of the opposition that has demanded new elections for the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić. As the president of Serbia himself has stated, “the parliamentary and local elections will be together, as well as those for the city of Belgrade and some municipalities”. Asked if he will be the bearer of the list of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), Vučić replied that it would be an honor and a pleasure for him.

Elections are not solutions

Extraordinary elections are usually called to resolve some political crisis, but DW interlocutors warn that even with these elections nothing will be resolved in Serbia. As Zoran Gavrilović, from the Bureau of Social Research (BIRODI), said to DW, “this step shows that we have an electoral system that is a function of one party and one person”.

“This is actually a misuse of the elections, where instead of choosing the best candidates, we will have elections at all levels, where the choice will be made by acclamation between supporting and rejecting the personal power of Aleksandar Vučić”, he assesses. Gavrilovic.

Kosovo and the unprepared opposition

If the opposition saw the elections as some kind of crisis exit strategy, after the practical failure of street protests across Serbia, it is not exactly clear why the ruling party so quickly wants to hold extraordinary elections. The professor of the Faculty of Political Sciences, Čedomir Çupić, believes that “some events have accelerated, above all in Kosovo. But Vucic is probably also counting on the opposition’s lack of preparation for the elections.” The opposition itself has not yet drawn up any strategy or tactics for the elections, and it is assumed that in such a short period of time it will not be able to do so properly”, Çućić told DW.

It is clear that after the announced increase in prices, the economic situation at the time when the elections had to be held will not be the same as at the end of this year, notes Zoran Gavrilovic. “There is also fear within the government that the mood will always change. and even more so after the tragic events in Kosovo. But despite this, we still have a government that leaves behind broken institutions and a crumbling rule of law. Therefore, I think that these will be elections that will not solve anything and that the crisis we have will continue”, warns Gavrilović.

Elections under the same conditions as before

One of the demands of the opposition is the division of the elections at different levels, in order to reduce as much as possible the influence of Vučić himself as the carrier of the SNS list in the elections. This request originally referred to a special date for the elections in Belgrade, which is currently seen as the place where the opposition has the best chance for the best result in Serbia. However, at least for now, the opposition’s persistence will not be successful.

Even the opposition had completely different positions on this – some were in favor of going to the elections at any cost, others were not, says Čedomir Çupık.

“It definitely suits the ruling party that all the elections are held at the same time, because this leaves more room for various manipulations. Everything shows the state of democracy in Serbia. “The opposition could probably do something more about the distribution of elections, or about the conditions of the elections, if it were more unique and if it had a common view on the elections”, believes Professor Çupık.

While Zoran Gavrilovic emphasizes that “first, it is not clear why the opposition asked for elections”. I do not believe that Vucic will give up the privilege to put his name against the opposition. The opportunity to transform the energy of the protest into something that will be at least some kind of change in the media sphere, which is important not only for the electoral process, has also been lost. Now the opposition has asked for elections, Vucic has replied that he will fulfill this request, but the election conditions will not change. That’s why we are now rushing into a new crisis”, notes Gavrilović.

Mastery of small calculations

On the other hand, the topic of election conditions has almost disappeared from the public debate and apparently, not even the opposition insists much on solving this problem. For professor Čupić, “this already shows enough how the extraordinary elections would look like. So we are entering a political game in which the outcome will be that someone enters the parliament, but as far as the general political life in Serbia is concerned, nothing will change.