"The counterattack is coming": Former Serbian activist warns of Vučić's plans after defeat

Ivan Marovic, a former member of the Serbian "Otpor" movement, has warned that Aleksandar Vucic's government may respond sooner than expected, despite its election defeat.

According to him, Vučić can exploit political crises and national issues to weaken opponents and deepen divisions in Serbian society.

In a series of posts on the social network X, Marovic focused on Vučić's speech after the election defeat, assessing that he showed defiance, but not necessarily strength. However, he warned that the Serbian president's publicly expressed dissatisfaction should not be interpreted as a sign of weakness.

"Are you ready for the counterattack? It's coming, that's for sure, and judging by Vucic's speech on Sunday, it will come sooner than usual," Marovic wrote.

He emphasized that Vučić knows the weaknesses of the student movement and may try to exploit them to turn the political situation in his favor.

"This speech is defiant, but not powerful. Vučić continues to complain, just as he complained when he was in power. But complaining is not a sign of his weakness, just as it has not been during all these years. Vučić knows who he is dealing with and he knows the weak points of the student movement," he declared.

According to Marovic, Vucic will initially try to mitigate the consequences of the political fallout and avoid criminal liability, before aiming to weaken the new governing team and, potentially, cause discord within it.

He assessed that the weaknesses that can be exploited are the same ones that, according to him, existed a quarter of a century ago: legalism and national interest.

"Through these weaknesses, he will try to turn things around. First, to soften the fall and avoid criminal responsibility, and then to weaken and perhaps cause discord in the new governing team," Marovic wrote.

He warned that a crisis could arise or an incident could occur that would attract the attention of the entire public, temporarily shifting the focus away from political differences.

"There will be some crisis, some incident, something that will require the attention not only of the government, but of the entire public," he stressed, adding that in such a situation it could be argued that "Serbia is threatened."

According to him, if political opponents pass this test in the way Vučić intends, it could lead to deepening divisions and fueling disillusionment in society.

Marović compared this scenario to past political developments in Serbia. He recalled that the Radicals, according to his assessment, took three years to become the largest individual party in the country in 2003, and another ten years to win the elections in 2012.

"Vučić hopes this will happen sooner," Marović concluded.

The GeoPost