Wednesday, September 9, 2026, exactly at noon. The citizens of Serbia will remember this moment well, because it was precisely then, after a full 492 days, that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić finally gathered the courage to respond to the students’ demand and call early parliamentary elections. The way he did it will also be remembered and studied, and we are entering this election campaign with captured institutions that are now openly working exclusively in the interests of SNS. CRTA’s latest research has shown this in black and white, practically confirming that security services, social welfare centers, the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, Post of Serbia, REM and others are wholeheartedly helping the ruling party in its fight for an electoral victory.
Responding to the Serbian Government’s proposal to dissolve Parliament and call early parliamentary elections, at exactly noon and in a live broadcast, President Aleksandar Vučić spoke to the citizens of Serbia about the EXPO exhibition and practically confirmed that this was one of the main reasons why elections had not been held until now, despite the biggest political crisis since SNS came to power.
Vučić stated that it was known that Serbia would host the EXPO exhibition from May 15, 2027, asked whether elections were necessary at this moment, given that the previous parliamentary term was formed in December 2023, and ultimately concluded that they certainly would not have been necessary if there had not been “such political risks, disagreements and conflicts.”
“Any delay would jeopardize EXPO, I would say, as well as the survival of democracy as the best form of political system in our country. That is why I believed that this was a time when we could still prepare and work, and after the decision is made at the elections as to who will govern the Government of the Republic of Serbia, our country, on your behalf in the coming period. So, to have enough time to prepare for EXPO and everything that awaits us, I would say, perhaps the most difficult times,” Vučić said.
The Serbian president then appealed for the elections and the entire campaign to proceed in a peaceful and dignified manner, stressing that it was important for everyone to respect one another, as well as the right to assembly and public expression.
The truth, however, is that there has been no dignity or respect in the previous several months, during which the authorities’ informal campaign was underway. This is confirmed by CRTA’s analysis covering the period from March to September this year, which showed a staggering abuse of state institutions, practically erasing the line between the state and the ruling party.
Lawyer Jovan Rajić told Nova on the matter that what we have witnessed over the past few months could be described as a serial coup.
“If you work in state institutions, Vučić gives you money”
“We are witnessing the final stage of the disappearance of the state and its institutions and their complete usurpation by the mafia regime headed by the president of the republic. In comparative theory, this phenomenon is called a coup when an unauthorized body takes de facto control of an institution outside its jurisdiction. In the case of Aleksandar Vučić and SNS, this could be called a prolonged, serial coup,” Rajić says, continuing:
“You can clearly see even from the statements of their officials that they live by this belief: whoever is not for Vučić is against Serbia, whoever criticizes Vučić attacks and hates Serbia, and whoever works in state institutions, Vučić gives them money, not the state.”
When you have 24-hour “bombardment” with these insane and distorted constructions in pro-government media, the Nova interlocutor points out, it becomes “Newspeak,” and consumers of this content blindly believe it.
“That is why you have conflicts between people, but also the normalization of a situation in which the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund is used as a private database of information, money from the budget is distributed as a gift from the president, and the prosecution labels citizens seeking justice as terrorists and arrests them for ‘spreading panic,’ while on the streets they are ‘re-educated’ by thieves and petty criminals close to the regime. The only good thing in the whole story is that we will soon have the opportunity to change this situation with a single stroke of the pen,” Rajić concluded.
Everything Rajić listed was confirmed by CRTA through data published on Tuesday.
“The upcoming early parliamentary elections are being held in an atmosphere of the complete collapse of control mechanisms, abuse of the security apparatus, blackmailing of socially vulnerable people and unauthorized surveillance of the opposition and activists,” was stated at their conference.
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BIA wiretapping and blackmail through social assistance
One of the most shocking pieces of information presented at the conference concerns unauthorized surveillance and digital spying on activists and opposition politicians. Independent international and domestic forensic examinations have officially confirmed that since the beginning of the year, the phones of 14 members of the student movement and the Green-Left Front were infected with the notorious “Pegasus” spyware. As stated, one of the network’s trails leads directly to BIA.
“Such a drastic violation of the law and trampling of human rights does not suggest democratic electoral competition. The electoral process will effectively, and partly formally, be entered without the institutions responsible for protecting voters’ rights,” warned CRTA Program Director Raša Nedeljkov, adding:
“Media regulator REM has not made a single decision in 22 months. The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption has not responded to seven CRTA complaints, while courts have kept cases related to electoral corruption and criminal offenses in the electoral process in the pre-investigation phase for years, despite numerous pieces of evidence.”
CRTA’s head of legal affairs, Pavle Dimitrijević, presented testimony about illegal voter registrations abroad, specifically in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for elections that had not even formally been called at the time. He also pointed to the abuse of the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, through which the president sends letters to pensioners attacking political opponents, while the Post of Serbia unlawfully collects citizens’ data.
Dimitrijević stressed that no one in Serbia has been held accountable for the most serious electoral abuses and announced that CRTA had submitted an initiative to the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption over suspicions that SNS was improperly spending money from the state budget.
“The reason was a rally in Užice where voting for the ‘United Serbia’ list was promoted and voters were urged to vote. All advertising content constituted election campaigning, even though elections had not been called. We are asking the Agency to collect evidence of the costs of that rally and the broadcasts on TV Pink and Informer, and once the list is officially declared, to initiate misdemeanor proceedings against SNS.”
Tamara Branković, deputy director and coordinator of CRTA, presented data showing that out of 1,200 recorded activities by public officials, as many as 400 were recorded in August alone. One in five activities contained elements of abuse of public office, while in one in seven SNS activities, clientelism was observed – distributing household appliances, packages and promising various benefits, such as Vučić’s promise to one household that he would give them a flock of sheep.
Particularly concerning are direct pressures on social assistance recipients.
“In the previous period, we recorded threats against the most vulnerable categories of the population that their social assistance and other benefits would be taken away if they did not support the ruling party. We have such an example in Inđija, where employees at the Center for Social Work directly blackmailed beneficiaries in this way,” Branković said.
On the elections and the campaign
The president’s decree terminates the mandate of the current composition of the National Assembly. After dissolution, Parliament may perform only duties prescribed by the Constitution and the law, namely routine affairs.
At the same time, the president’s decision to call elections triggers a whole series of legal deadlines. From that moment, parties, coalitions and groups of citizens begin collecting signatures for their electoral lists.
The campaign will last 45 days, while political scientist Aleksandar Ivković also provided the exact deadlines for the next pre-election steps.
“The deadline for submitting an electoral list is October 4, the deadline for submitting requests to vote abroad is October 3, while the deadline for registering domestic observers is October 17,” Ivković wrote.
The students immediately reacted.
“Today we can say loudly and clearly: the elections have been called. Our path is now clearer than ever, and the responsibility we have taken on is becoming increasingly difficult, but also increasingly meaningful. It is time for victory, and we are ready to see it through to the end,” the statement said.
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Source: Nova; Foto: Radule Perišić/ATA Images
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