Aleksandar Vučić’s personality cult is difficult to erode, while his Serbian Progressive Party is bulky and with many cracks and therefore perhaps an easier target for the opposition.
On Monday, Vučić addressed the public and journalists from Italy and, commenting on the political changes in Montenegro, he mentioned the opposition in Serbia, repeating that they would fail at defeating him because, among other things, he could no longer run for president.
“You know, if they (the opposition) had a little political savvy, they would attack everyone, but they would not dare attack me. That would be smart for them, that’s what any smart pollster would tell them, no matter how much it upset and annoyed them. Because when they attack me, it bites them back. I benefit and they do not,” Vučić said.
Predrag Lacmanović, Executive Director of the Faktor Plus public survey agency, says everything depends on how the attack is carried out.
“It is the opposition’s job to attack the government, and Aleksandar Vučić’s image and work are the embodiment of this government. Everyone knows that a victory over him would be a victory over the system. However, there is truth in the fact that this is a wrong approach,” he believes.
“On the other hand, these attacks are often reduced to insulting him, calling him mentally ill or unstable, or branding him a dictator that stifles media freedom, although there are plenty of media outlets who keep hurling insults at him and are still operating. No one specifically sanctions that. In a way, that too falls flat. We have economic and financial stability and it is natural that those who support Vučić reject these criticisms as relevant and wonder what he is doing badly when salaries and pensions are growing, roads are being built, progress is noticeable…” Lacmanović adds.
However, according to him, there is a partial decline in trust in the SNS party itself both locally and generally, and public opinion researchers say that the opposition parties should focus on that.
Lacmanović also notes that the opposition is fragmented and that its attacks on Vučić look like the strikes of small speedboats, not an aircraft carrier, and that the opposition’s criticisms would perhaps be stronger and more widely accepted if the opposition were consolidated.
Political scientist Boban Stojanović believes that Vučić is both right and wrong.
“In municipalities and cities, at the local level and in local campaigns, the opposition’s focus should certainly be on local potentates, on people who have benefitted greatly once the SNS came to power. The opposition should also address local topics and issues,” Stojanović states.
He adds that when it comes to national issues, that should be left to high-level politics and that it is frivolous to criticize government ministers, for instance, as we know who they report to.
(Danas, 04.04.2023)