Bureau of Social Research (OFFICES) assessed that Aleksandar Vučić misused the office of president and violated ODIHR recommendations in yesterday's address to citizens in Sivac and appearances on Kula and Pink televisions.
The methodology included four key criteria - does the actor present himself as the President of the Republic, does he speak as President of the Republic or as a political leader, whether he acts as a participant in elections, and whether he makes promises that are within the competence of the Government or local self-government.
According to BIRODI, the results of the analysis indicate a very high level of interference between the state function and the election campaign in those performances.
Photo: Tanjug / Vladimir ŠporčićVučić at a rally in Kula
The analysis shows that in all three appearances, Vučić was presented primarily as the president of Serbia, which means that the political and election messages were delivered from the position of the president of the country, and not from the formal position of a party leader or candidate.
The findings of the BIRODI analysis also indicate a violation of ODIHR recommendation number 1, which refers to the need to prevent the abuse of public office in the electoral process and ensure a clear separation between state functions and party activities during the campaign.
In the analyzed performances, the President of the Republic acts as the President of the State, but at the same time speaks as a political leader and participant in the election campaign, while announcing infrastructure and development projects under the jurisdiction of the executive power.
Photo: Tanjug / Dejan ŽivančevićThe President of Serbia stated that we live in an "era of tectonic changes in the world"
Such merging of institutional and party roles represents a pattern that ODIHR identifies as a problem for the equality of political actors and the integrity of the electoral process, BIRODI points out.
From that bureau, they said that the analyzed performances intertwine the presidential function with the role of political leader and there are delegitimization of political opponents, political polarization ("us" and "them") and affirmation of one's own political option.
