Official campaign ahead of elections: Vučić tours Serbia, RTS reports visits as presidential duties

President Aleksandar Vučić and his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) are deeply engaged in campaigning, even though elections have not been officially called. Vučić travels across Serbia, making numerous promises under the "Serbia Wins" slogan, often accompanied by party insignia. However, the public broadcaster RTS reports these visits as standard presidential activities, blurring the lines between official duties and electioneering.

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105 to 147 million euros - just for the tunnel under Kadinjača, for people who don't know it's about 6.2 kilometers, very important... And then Kadinjača - Jelova Gora, you have to do more...

These events, which observers describe as "fairground events under tents," are characterized by banners, stands, flyers, and flags. Critics, including Gojko Božović, an initiator of the ProGlas movement, argue that these gatherings are not about policy discussions but about mobilizing a core group of supporters. He notes that state officials appear at these events, which are funded from unknown sources, and address a select audience rather than the broader Serbian public.

Zlatko Minić from "Transparency Serbia" echoes these concerns, stating that the SNS has launched an "intensive campaign" despite the absence of official election calls. He points to gatherings often held with food and music, where funds could be used for party promotion. Minić believes these activities are a series of promotional events designed to secure significant media coverage, which they achieve through RTS's reporting.

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They are trying, through this whole cycle of fairground events under tents across Serbia, not to promote policy, because there is no policy there, no politics is discussed, but by organizing these mass or relatively mass events, from unknown sources, where state officials appear in a typical official campaign, they are not addressing the citizens of Serbia but some very narrow core of their supporters.

The public service broadcaster's coverage, which frequently places Vučić's campaign events among the top news stories, is seen by critics as sending a clear message. This framing suggests that the president's pre-election activities are being presented as official presidential obligations, thereby lending them legitimacy and bypassing scrutiny.

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We see that the party, the Serbian Progressive Party, has also started an intensive campaign, although elections have not yet been called. These are the gatherings that are most often held under tents with food and singing, where money can be allocated for the promotion of political party ideas and programs for regular costs. This is evidently a series of promotional activities whose main goal is to gain as much space in the media, in regular news programs.