Aleksandar Vučić, the president of Serbia, stated, as soon as he arrived in the Loznica region and faced the cameras and journalists' questions, that the opposition, which advocates no mining and mining of lithium, is at a very low level when it comes to support in the electorate.
The question of whether his regime has declined rating after taking the position of promoter of the company Rio Tinto, he is widely in the public's focus, especially after the mass demonstrations in mid-summer and August, when several tens of thousands of citizens took to the streets of Belgrade, he reminds Today.
In Loznica, where he came to defend and explain the expedient of lithium mining, Vučić stated the following: "Miloš Vučević's party, to which Aleksandar Vučić is added, is independent at 47,6 percent, SPS is second, Đilas is third with 5,6 percent, this Rockefeller run is fourth with five percent. The rest are significantly lower."
It is assumed that "Rockefeller's running mate" in Vučić's words is Savo Manojlović, the leader of Move-Change.
"I don't think the numbers presented by the President of Serbia are unrealistic. We had mass protests and the like before, but Aleksandar Vučić still kept his electorate relatively stable. We see that with what he is doing in the media sphere and in his visit to Loznica and in his meetings with Emmanuel Macron..." says Dejan Bursać, researcher at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory.
It is important for Vučić to maintain his voter support percentage in this story at 45, 46, 47 percent..., he adds.
"That brings him power in every election." And, what is happening in the opposition part of public opinion, i.e. the question of whether 10, 50 or 100 thousand mobilized at the protests, as long as he maintains his electorate, that is, in fact, the point of his action," Bursać believes.
As Danas learns, the numbers that Vučić made public regarding the ratings of the opposition parties were most likely done by the public opinion research agency - Ipsos.
How does the promotion of Rio Tinto and jadarite mining affect Vučić's rating?
The director of the Faktor plus marketing agency Vladimir Pejić previously assessed for Danas that despite the mass demonstrations against lithium mining in Serbia, there is no drastic drop in the rating of Aleksandar Vučić, when researching public opinion.
Bearing in mind that the government's campaign, which is going in the direction of alleged welfare for the economic position of the citizens of Serbia, has gained so much momentum that the President of Serbia even wants to move his office to Western Serbia, where the mining of lithium was originally planned, would he not convince the local population in the benefit they can have from it, the question arises whether it has experienced a decline in the trust of the citizens.
"There is no drop in the rating of Aleksandar Vučić," says Vladimir Pejić.
The executive director of the Center for Free Elections and Democracy testifies to the fact that the electorate reacts relatively slowly compared to current events in society, such as one of the most massive protests against the regime of Aleksandar Vučić, but also that they do not necessarily have to be as it seems at first sight. Bojan Klačar.
"It is too early to talk about the impact on the ratings, both of the government and of Aleksandar Vučić, as well as of the opposition." The reason is that the issue of lithium mining is a political marathon, not a 100-meter sprint, so no line can be drawn today. Today, Serbia is far from elections, but also from lithium mining because there will certainly be no activities on the ground for at least a year. It is a long period and a period in which the government will be active, because so far neither the government nor Vučić have dealt systematically with this topic", believes the interviewee of Danas.
At this stage, the ruling party has left the field to activists and to some extent to the opposition, so the impression is that the government is in a defensive position, he adds.
Source: Today
