Expert: Regime in Serbia Hasn't Weakened as Much as Students Have Grown Stronger

Vujo Ilic (Istinomer/Zoran Drekalovic)

Compared to last year, when we saw majority support by citizens for the demands of protesting students and the movement itself, support for the election ticket that students will propose has become more clearly defined, Vujo Ilic, a research associate at the Belgrade Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, said on Aug. 13.

Ilic, who has a wealth of experience in political studies, told the Vreme weekly that the key finding of the past several studies is that there are two clear poles which citizens gravitate to and that is the Serbian Progressive Party and the announced student ticket which apparently enjoys stable support. "If similar results continue and are confirmed by other studies, this will be the first time since 12 years ago when the Serbian Progressive Party became the dominant party that general elections are happening with an uncertain outcome," Ilic said.

He added that "this expected level of electoral mobilization is a necessary but not sufficient condition for an electoral reversal." A lot will also depend on electoral conditions before election day is scheduled, on how votes for a ticket are turned into mandates in parliament and how the results will be accepted by all of the participants, Ilic said.