Vucic in Belegis: Elections in Three Months at Most

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in Belegis that the snap election will be held within three months at most, and that the country’s future is what is being decided at the vote. He spoke on August 8 from the stadium of the “Podunavac” football club, in the municipality of Stara Pazova, before locals who greeted him with flags and banners after he had toured stalls selling handicrafts and homemade food.

Until now, the deadline he gave had referred to something else. In the Serbia Palace on August 6, after receiving participants of the “Serbia Is Calling You” camp, Vucic said the election would be called within a few days or a few weeks, the first deadline he had put on the record. Calling an election means signing the decision, while the election itself is the day people vote, and it was only in Belegis that he named a date for that second, later moment.

From the stage, the president asked the crowd for responsibility and pointed to his own record in power, saying he has, in one capacity or another, been part of running the state for 14 years.

I’m asking you to show responsibility, to show seriousness, because, as I’ve said, I know very well that the state is not a toy.

That’s why it matters that we not be careless, that we not gamble with the fate of our country, and even more, that we not gamble with the fate of our children.

Both lines were delivered to the crowd in a town where the president had just toured the local church and asked about the school, in other words in a local setting, not at a press conference.

Three months or under 100 days, which deadline is tighter?

The president’s is the tighter one. Three months counted from August 8 runs to early November. Milos Vucevic, leader of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), had said a day earlier, on August 7 on TV Pink, that there were fewer than 100 days left until the vote, which from that date runs to mid November. The gap between the two deadlines is about a week, and both point to the same autumn week on the calendar.

Neither figure is a decision. A firm date exists only once the decision to call the election is signed and published, and until then both “three months” and “under 100 days” remain estimates from the people who are the ones expected to sign it.

Vucevic: polls show the opposition list ahead

For the first time, someone at the top of the ruling party has publicly admitted that the ruling list is not in front. In the same TV appearance, Vucevic laid out what he expects from the campaign.

I think the campaign will be tough, that the political contest will be uncertain, that according to the polls the blockader list is ahead, and I think our list can still spoil their plans.

Asked when the vote would actually happen, he was brief.

As for the election, it will come very soon. Everyone who is serious about this is already campaigning.

He also said Vucic had publicly guaranteed that the “Aleksandar Vucic, United Serbia” list would concede defeat, congratulate its opponents and carry on the political fight from opposition, adding that he had not heard the same promise from the other side.

The numbers that came before

On August 6, Vucic had commented on a poll showing that 49 percent of respondents believe things in Serbia are heading in the wrong direction, against 41 percent who think they are heading in the right one, noting that every figure from the survey had been published except the parties’ own ratings.

The nervousness is huge, and I know exactly why. It’s only going to grow, because the day we find out the truth is getting closer.

Three days later, in Belegis, that same subject finally got a deadline attached to it.

What was said about Belegis itself

Part of the address stayed local. Vucic said the budget of Stara Pazova is three and a half times larger than it was in 2012, announced that renovation work on the school in Belegis would be finished within two months, and noted that the town’s church turns 100 years old next year. With the president of the Stara Pazova municipality, he also discussed replacing the local water pipes and linking settlements with pedestrian and bicycle paths.

On August 6, the president had rejected the suggestion that he was running an official-duties campaign, saying he would keep doing the job of president of Serbia until the last day of his term and would resign only in order to enter the campaign as an ordinary citizen. The Belegis visit, with its announcements of upcoming works and reminders of past investment, sits squarely in that gray zone, one that is hard to separate out in an election year.

What is still missing is the signature. Until it is added, both three months and 100 days remain just announcements, and the only date actually fixed so far is December 1, when Serbia, as Vucic said in Belegis, must hand over the keys to the Expo organizers.