Current:Home > InvestSerbia’s populist leader relies on his tested playbook to mastermind another election victory -ThriveEdge Finance
Serbia’s populist leader relies on his tested playbook to mastermind another election victory
View
Date:2025-04-12 15:31:39
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Aleksandar Vucic likes nothing more than to win. Critics say he cheats, but Serbia’s president shows he just knows the job of remaining in power.
The populist leader has ruled the Balkan nation for more than a decade as both prime minister and president. After his populists won a weekend snap parliamentary election, Vucic seems set to tighten his already autocratic rule still further.
During a political career that spans more than 30 years, Vucic has morphed from being an extreme nationalist who supported an aggression against non-Serbs, to a regional player lauded by Western officials for keeping the Balkans relatively stable.
The 53-year-old comes across as both pro-European and pro-Russian. He says Serbia should join the European Union but then bashes the EU at every opportunity. He appointed Serbia’s first-ever gay prime minister but later banned a pride march.
“This was an absolute victory and I am extremely happy about it,” Vucic said late on Sunday after declaring the triumph of his populists in the snap vote.
Critics say Vucic will do anything to keep power as long as possible.
Since ousting a pro-Western government at an election in 2012, Vucic and his ruling populists have gradually taken control over all layers of power, the mainstream media, the state institutions and companies.
As in all the elections during Vucic’s time in power, Sunday’s poll was marred by reports of voting irregularities and complaints that his control over pro-government media and shadowy funds used to bribe voters gave his party an unfair advantage once again.
“Though technically well-administered and offering voters a choice of political alternatives, (the elections) were dominated by the decisive involvement of the President which together with the ruling party’s systemic advantages created unjust conditions,” international election observers said in a report published Monday.
Zoran Stojiljkovic, a political analyst, said that Vucic played the main role in “manipulating” the election.
“He simply created a doomsday atmosphere,” Stojiljkovic said “It is political blackmail: if my party and my coalition do not win, then I won’t be president, and then you create a political crisis and you seek overwhelming support.
“And he did it, having in mind the very passive and hypocritical position of the political West, which places far more importance on having a stabilocrat in power than on democratic values,” he said.
Serbia, the largest country to emerge from the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia after wars triggered by late strongman Slobodan Milosevic, has commanded the attention of both the United States and the European Union as the pivot for many problems in the volatile region.
With war raging in Ukraine, analysts say the EU has been careful not to push Serbia further away, even as Vucic refused to join Western sanctions against Moscow. The U.S. and EU have worked closely with Vucic to try to reach a deal in Serbia’s breakaway former province of Kosovo which declared independence in 2008 where tensions at the border have threatened regional stability.
During the wars in the 1990s, Vucic was one of the leaders of the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party which advocated the creation of a “Greater Serbia” that would include territories in Croatia and Bosnia where minority Serbs live.
He was known for fiery speeches, including one in Serbia’s parliament where he said that for each Serb killed in the Bosnian war, 100 Bosnian Muslims must die. He later said that he didn’t mean it literally.
Vucic was Serbia’s information minister in the late 1990s, when media critical of Milosevic were slapped with heavy fines or shut down altogether. Vucic shifted away from ultranationalism to an alleged pro-EU stance on the eve of his return to power after an election in 2012.
Angela Merkel, German Chancellor at the time, was considered to be his patron, helping to burnish his image with EU officials.
___
Jovana Gec contributed.
veryGood! (7741)
Related
- Nearly 400 USAID contract employees laid off in wake of Trump's 'stop work' order
- Sofia Isella opens for Taylor Swift, says she's 'everything you would hope she'd be'
- Dirt track racer Scott Bloomquist, known for winning and swagger, dies in plane crash
- New Jersey man sentenced to 7 years in arson, antisemitic graffiti cases
- Rolling Loud 2024: Lineup, how to stream the world's largest hip hop music festival
- USA flag football QB says NFL stars won't be handed 2028 Olympics spots: 'Disrespectful'
- Taylor Swift's best friend since childhood gives birth to sweet baby boy
- Ex-Rep. George Santos expected to plead guilty to multiple counts in fraud case, AP source says
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Hi Hi!
- A Complete Guide to the It Ends With Us Drama and Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni Feud Rumors
Ranking
- The Louvre will be renovated and the 'Mona Lisa' will have her own room
- The Bama Rush obsession is real: Inside the phenomena of OOTDs, sorority recruitment
- Fire breaks out at London’s Somerset House, home to priceless works by Van Gogh, Cezanne
- Bridgerton Season 4: Actress Yerin Ha Cast as Benedict's Love Interest Sophie Beckett
- Former longtime South Carolina congressman John Spratt dies at 82
- DNA search prompts arrest of Idaho murder suspect in 51-year-old cold case, California police say
- Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Secord fights on: once in Vietnam, now within family
- Can AI truly replicate the screams of a man on fire? Video game performers want their work protected
Recommendation
Arkansas State Police probe death of woman found after officer
What the VP picks says about what Harris and Trump want for America's kids
‘Shoot me up with a big one': A timeline of the last days of Matthew Perry
US Navy helicopter crew members injured in Nevada training mishap released from hospital
North Carolina trustees approve Bill Belichick’s deal ahead of introductory news conference
Nordstrom Rack's Top 100 Deals: Save Nearly $550 on These Boots & Up to 68% Off Cole Haan, Hunter & More
A banner year for data breaches: Cybersecurity expert shows how to protect your privacy
Police: 2 dead in Tennessee interstate crash involving ambulance