Parties launch campaigns, "pick targets"

Parties launch campaigns, "pick targets"

One obvious example are LDP's barbs directed at the SPS, sent out "on an almost daily basis," but also the war of words between the Progressives and the Democrats, and the criticism the new political alliance of Boris Tadić has for former party colleagues.

Thus LDP leader Čedomir Jovanović recently said that Ivica Dačić was "not fighting to be prime minister but was attempting to convince Serbia to give him another chance, like some karaoke clown," and later accused the outgoing prime minister who also heads the Socialist Party (SPS) of "offering Hashim Thaci more than was necessary in Brussels."

The SPS responded by stating that Jovanović managed to, in a short amount of time, "travel an interesting road from an impoverished student to a rich, adventurous tycoon."

Meanwhile, the country's two biggest parties, the ruling Progressives (SNS) and the opposition Democrats (DS), seem to have opted for the old-fashioned style of attack and counterattack via press releases.

And while the Democrats are accusing the Progressives and their leader of introducing a dictatorship and persecuting political opponents, insisting on ruling out any future cooperation between the two parties, the SNS describes them as a party of tycoons, and makes a point of noting that "no cooperation will be offered."

Former President and former DS leader Boris Tadić and his election bloc seem to be currently focused on criticizing other opposition parties. Former cabinet minister and former DS official Snežana Malović, who recently joined Tadić, thus accused the Democrats of "standing in the way of the fight against organized crime," while that party said Tadić represented "their past."

Saša Radulović, who resigned as minister of economy as early parliamentary elections were being announced, explained he was stepping down because Aleksandar Vučić and Ivica Dačić were hindering reforms. "Someone who doesn't show up for cabinet meetings, as was the case with Radulović, cannot know what happens there," was Dačić's response.

Meanwhile on the right-wing part of the political scene, the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and the Serb Radicals (SRS) are the only ones without "specific enemies," the newspaper writes, and added that they instead "criticize everyone - except each other."

Political analyst Đorđe Vuković explained that elections campaigns are based on two strategies: attacking parties on the opposite end of the political spectrum in order to motivate own voters, and turning on those who are ideologically close in order to steal their voters.

"Targeting Vučić would at this point be counterproductive and most parties are aware of that. It is also clear that many see themselves in a coalition with the SNS after the election," Vuković noted.