The post-election political situation in Serbia is like a top suspense story, in which democracy will either triumph or perish, regardless of whether we will spend a long time or just a brief period living with the results of these elections
It was in the last week of January that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced that a constitutive session for the new convocation of the Serbian Parliament could be expected after 1st February, while a new government could be expected to be unveiled as soon as 15th March.
As such, by the time you are reading this article, some of the dilemmas discussed by the featured experts may or may not have been resolved, depending on whether the president’s expectations turn out to have been premature or not. Specifically, it may already be clear from your perspective whether opposition politicians chose to enter the parliament and fight for democratic and fair electoral conditions through the institutions of the system, or whether they opted to continue to mount their struggle primarily through the kind of public gatherings and mass protests that have given them visibility and voter support.
One analyst has already described it aptly as a Dark Kingdom in which regret will be by both those that enter and those that don’t – regardless of how we welcome the start of February. Despite this undoubtedly being a decision that will further divide voters, whatever the opposition decides, the question of the government’s position following the events of the elections will also be open and complex, regardless of whether doubts over the results of the election will soon overshadow other topics, both in the media and in reality, such as Kosovo or relations with the international community. Simultaneously, the actual decision of the opposition to either enter or remain outside the parliament might not be as important to the outcome as their real capabilities, interests, talent, level of maturity and commitment to the long-term building of their own identity, programme and implementation methods. Our interlocutors’ statements point to numerous possibilities for an epilogue to the current political situation.