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Nikola Pejović, Umka Cardboard Mill General Manager

Sustainability and Quality as Foundations of Trust

The Umka Cardboard Mill boasts a rich tradition dating all the way back to 1939, when it was first established to produce paper and...

Miodrag Kostić Endowment

Palace of Science Welcomes Visitors

Thanks to Miodrag Kostić’s gift to the Serbian society that’s worth over 25 million euros, an area of 5,500m² in one of Belgrade’s most...

dm drogerie

CSR Marks Milestone Year for dm

Retail chain dm drogerie markt, a leader in corporate social responsibility in Serbia, concluded its anniversary year with numerous humanitarian activities and monetary and...

Kathrine Decorzant, general manager, JTI Adriatica

Benchmark for Success

JTI represents one of the largest Japanese investments in Serbia and the country’s leading tobacco company, which has been recognised as a Top Employer...

Aleksandar Momčilović, sales and service manager at Daikin Serbia (Heating & Cooling expert)

Trust Built on Expertise

Daikin has introduced many global “firsts” and patented technologies that have become indispensable in modern air conditioners and heat pumps ~ says Diakin Serbia’s...

Raša Nedeljkov, Programme Director at the Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA)

No Free Flow of Ideas in Elections

There are no issues on which “elections are won or lost” here. If they existed, that would mean that our democracy is in a much healthier state than it actually is, and that the election race unfolds under fair conditions, on a free “market of ideas”

According to the findings of the latest public opinion survey conducted by CRTA, citizens are most concerned over economic problems – 40 per cent of respondents say that they have been impacted by inflation, i.e., by price hikes and falling living standards. More recent elections haven’t given us the opportunity to see serious, well-argued confrontations between contrasting economic and development policies.

The government has tended to assuage voter “anxiety” with various ad hoc solutions and concessions during the pre-election period, which either border on, or even cross the line in, the practice of buying votes, and certainly occupy the zone of the misuse of public resources and the further erasing of the boundary between the state and the party.

The opposition could benefit from the fact that citizens single out ubiquitous violence as the number two problem in society, followed by corruption and the conceitedness of the government. The coalition named “Serbia against violence”, which was actually created on the wave of major citizen protests, could probably build a good part of its campaign on the struggle against violence, corruption and autocracy.

Not only is there huge inequality in the representing of election participants in the media, which ensures a good part of the citizenry is unable to even find out what policies the opposition is actually advocating, but also too many voters are exposed to political pressure

Unfortunately, I don’t think there are issues on which “elections are won or lost” here. If they existed, that would mean that our democracy is in a much healthier state than it actually is, and that the election race unfolds under fair conditions, on a free “market of ideas”. And we are a long way from that.

Not only is there huge inequality in the representing of election participants in the media, which ensures a good part of the citizenry is unable to even find out what policies the opposition is actually advocating, but also too many voters are exposed to political pressure, or find themselves “enslaved” in the network of clientelism in which they trade votes in exchange for their basic existential needs.

CRTA recently published the results of research on the ways relations of clientelism function in the system of social work centres. Approximately half a million Serbian citizens live in abject poverty and many of them are bribed into voting in accordance with directives if they want to exercise their right to the assistance that’s guaranteed to them by law.

The question for the opposition is how they can motivate as many as possible of those who aren’t exposed to direct political pressure to vote, or rather to believe that change is possible and act accordingly.

Comment by Zoran Panović

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Florian Bieber, Professor for Southeast European History and Politics at the University of Graz and director of the Centre for Southeast European Studies

Autocratic Regimes Spark Mass Protests

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Vladan Marjanović, journalist of weekly news magazine Radar

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Slobodan G. Markovich, Faculty of Political Science of the University of Belgrade

The Mutiny of Zoomers and the Belgrade Student Protests

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Novi Sad’s Ambitious Leap Boosted by Elleven

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Director Neil Jordan and Mary Coughlan, the Irish “Billie Holiday,” Guests of the 13th Belgrade Irish Festival

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The Grand Reopening of The Bristol Belgrade

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European Motorcycle Sales Surge in 2024

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European Motorcycle Sales Surge in 2024

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European Motorcycle Sales Surge in 2024

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A New Front in the Trade War

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Austrian Business Cooperation in Serbia

The annual survey by Advantage Austria on the business climate in Serbia for 2024 confirms the stability and growth...

The Hermitage Days are Being Held Again in Belgrade in 2025

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Djokovic into Australian Open Semifinals After Victory Over Alcaraz

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