Serbia votes in double-header elections

Serbians went to the polls on Sunday in elections that would almost certainly extend the rule of populist President Aleksandar Vucic’s ruling party, as the strongman pledged stability and promised to cut inflation following months of demonstrations.

Despite the fact that Vucic will not be on the ballot in Sunday’s parliamentary and local elections, the battle will be viewed as a referendum on his government.

According to the most recent Ipsos poll, Vucic’s right-wing populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) has a double-digit advantage over the major opposition coalition.

However, the SNS faces stiff competition in municipal elections in Belgrade, particularly from a loose combination of opposition parties and candidates running under the slogan “Serbia Against Violence.”

The movement arose in the aftermath of two mass shootings earlier this year, which prompted hundreds of thousands to take to the streets.

The rallies swiftly turned into months-long anti-government protests.

Vucic has consistently dismissed his critics and protests as a foreign ploy, warning that without his leadership, Serbia would be lost.

“It’s not about me leaving power, but about them destroying everything,” he told supporters at a recent rally.

“It would take us 20 years to fix everything… That’s why we’ll beat them more convincingly than ever.”

Vucic was omnipresent in the run-up to the vote — plastered on billboards and skyscrapers and the focus of wall-to-wall coverage on news channels.

Muzzled media

Like many countries across the globe, Serbia has been battered by double-digit inflation.

To blunt the hard edges of rising prices ahead of the polls, Vucic unleashed a barrage of state spending — increasing pensions and handing out cash to the elderly.

The president has also vowed to double average monthly salaries in the coming years, while also upping pensions.

Vucic has used his more than a decade in power to consolidate control over the levers of power, including de facto control over the media.

The president called the snap elections in November, the latest example of how governments under his rule rarely serve out their term — a move critics say is designed to keep the opposition off balance.

The contest comes less than two years after the last round of presidential and parliamentary polls, which saw Vucic and the SNS tighten their grip on power.

Polling stations will open from 0600 GMT and close at 1900 GMT, with unofficial results due later in the evening.