Page 24 - SE Outlook Regions 2023

The PSD leads the latest poll carried out by Inscop in December 2022,
with 31.5% of the voting intentions, followed by the PNL on 20.2%.
AUR was in third place (18.1%) while the USR would get only 10.9% of
the votes.

Inscop head Remus Ștefureac commented that the results indicate
“2023-2024 will be unpredictable years”, though added on a more
optimistic note: “I think that in the end, the electorate will reward serious
work/responsibility and penalise populism/demagogy.”

1.10 Politics - Serbia

2022 marked a full decade since the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS)
first came to power. In April the party scored a dual victory in the
presidential and general elections, which returned Aleksandar Vucic to
the presidency and confirmed the SNS as the largest party in
Parliament by a considerable margin.

Despite the clear victory, it took more than six months for Vucic to
appoint a new government. Finally announced in October and endorsed
by the parliament, the government is again led by PM Ana Brnabic.
47-year-old Brnabic has served as prime minister since 2017. She is
the first woman and first openly gay person in this position in Serbia.
Brnabic said on October 25 that it will be a government of continuity.
She also said the government will face much bigger challenges than
anything that could have been imagined two years earlier.

The government has 25 ministries and three ministers without
portfolios, four more than the previous one. There were some personnel
changes — notably the removal of both Energy and Mining Minister
Zorana Mihajlovic, an outspoken advocate of closer ties with the West,
and, conversely, equally vocal pro-Russian former interior minister
Aleksandar Vulin. Overall, there was no clear message to deduce from
the new appointments, except that Vucic appears to be set on
continuing his attempt to balance relations with Russia and the West.

Looking ahead to 2023, Vucic said in September 2022 that he plans to
create a state-wide political movement in the next six months for
“survival and progress” of the country. The formation of such a
movement may allow Vucic to keep his promise to resign as leader of
the SNS, after he became president in 2017, in line with the
constitution.

He announced during his state of the nation address in January that
this will be his final term as president, and said he does not intend to
change the constitution to enable himself to serve a third term.

24 SE Outlook 2023 www.intellinews.com