They delegitimized themselves a long time ago

...

Although what happened that should not have happened - the disunity of the opposition on the subject of the Belgrade elections - over time we get used to it. Anyone who is oppositional is looking for their answer. Is participating in the elections really giving legitimacy to an increasingly intolerable regime? And is absence from the election a betrayal? Whoever wanted could listen to representatives of both points of view and weigh their arguments. On the rational level, the argumentation is indeed approximately equal, with the fact that I am convinced that giving up the election does not give Vučić's regime even an iota of legitimacy. That regime is not legitimate because of the way it came to power through unfree and unfair elections, nor because of the way it exercises power, scheming, lightly making promises that are not fulfilled, underestimating citizens, corruptly undermining the very physical substance of this society, in short - denying rights which we have under the Constitution and attacking common sense. It is not difficult to disprove all the government's claims about its own legitimacy, and therefore you should not worry that someone from the government will later claim that the opposition legitimized the government by going to the elections. They won't. They delegitimized themselves a long time ago.

Theoretically, I am not opposed to non-participation in the elections (so-called boycott) if it could give any, even long-term, results. But, on this occasion, there are no conditions for such results, and there were none before the opposition split. For myself, I decided to vote guided not only by reason but also by feeling: something active must be done and right now. I believe many of us share that feeling.

You don't go to the elections only when you are sure that you will win. Also, one does not go to elections in autocracies if they are "clean". Because they are never like that as long as the government is autocratic. Even when the opposition does not win power, the long-term effects of its at least relative success in local elections, in a country like Serbia, exist. Topics of small and large communities that are important to many people are given the right of citizenship. The arbitrariness of the omnipotent political party is narrowing. Citizens gain the possibility of certain control or at least knowledge of the corrupt moves of the ruling party. The thin civil stratum, especially in small communities, is becoming more self-aware thanks to the actions of pro-democratic parties that are not in power. An active opposition stance reduces the fear of blackmail inherent in autocracies. Although it is difficult to imagine such a thing with the contentious discourse fostered by the Serbian Progressive Party, the success of the opposition parties gives them a chance to sit down at the same table. And he talks. In the beginning, apparently and insincerely. For a substantive conversation - we'll see.

And one day the citizens will defeat the autocracy. So-called optional hybrid regimes that last too long are extremely rare. Although this is already way too long.