Poll: Serbia’s opposition could win in Belgrade

N1 / Ilustracija

At Serbia's 2022 elections, some 35 percent of eligible voters would trust the ruling coalition, while 14 percent would opt for the opposition parties which boycotted the previous ballot, an opinion poll conducted by the Research and Publishing Centre Demostat shwed on Wednesday.

In spring next year, Serbia holds presidential, Belgrade and some other local elections. President Aleksandar Vucic said the country could carry an early general vote.

The move is believed to be forced by the main opposition parties’ boycott of the 2020 parliamentary elections, which resulted in an almost unanimous assembly.

The latest poll suggests, unlike four years ago, the opposition in Belgrade can win the city’s elections.

In 2018, the coalition led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won 64 out of 110 mandates in the city’s parliament. The newly formed opposition coalition under the former Belgrade Mayor Dragan Djilas, had 26 seats.

The ruling coalition would get 21 percent of the votes in Belgrade, the so-called boycott opposition also 21 percent, the opposition parties which took part in the last elections could get ten percent. In comparison, 14 percent of the polled would place trust in the opposition in general.

Some 20 percent of the polled were still undecided, and 14 percent would abstain from voting.

Those voting for the ruling parties are less educated: every third has a secondary school diploma, and every sixth has higher education.

The authorities could count on pensioners, kept people and on one out of four employed. At the same time, ‘the boycott opposition’ would have 15 percent votes among the employed and a similar percentage among pensioners.
The poll covered 1,200 people who were decoding among individual parties, whose answers were later grouped.