SERBIA: Election Survey Results & more – 29th July 2025

Dobar dan from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 29th of July twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

Last week, the Sprint Insight agency published the results of a survey it had conducted regarding early parliamentary elections. In one of the questions, citizens were asked who they would vote for if they had to choose between the ruling Serbian Progressive Party and the student list, which is still incomplete and unpublished. The results showed that on a sample of around 1,500 people, the student list won with around fifty-five percent. In a scenario where citizens could also choose a united opposition, the student list still secured the most votes - around forty-one percent.

The researchers also said that thirty-seven respondents told them students had motivated them to become more socially and politically engaged.

As the students requested early parliamentary elections, they engaged in creating a student list that would run in the elections and represent the students. They noted that the list would not feature students or anyone who has been a part of the ruling or opposition parties.

Speaking of students, on Tuesday the 22nd, police and the management of the Student Cultural Center, or SKC, burst in and forced out the students who had been occupying it since February, as part of the faculty blockades. The SKC has long been forgotten in the eyes of its management, which is under the government’s control, with the space being trashed and dilapidated for years. Students took it upon themselves to free it by occupying it, cleaning and restoring it to be functional again.

However, on Tuesday, the police, accompanied by the journalists of the pro-government tabloid Informer, stormed in and evicted the students, accusing them of stealing computers from the Center. Informer’s TV program showed videos of the trashed SKC, accusing the students of destroying the building.

Students dismissed allegations that they stole equipment and that they had trashed the SKC, accusing Informer of staging the scene as part of a smear campaign against the students - something Informer is known for.

Universities across Serbia have scheduled admission exams for their faculties amid the blockades. Universities were not organizing them to respect the students' wishes. Since the faculties were blocked, holding entrance exams would mean a lack of support from the university. However, with the growing pressure from the state, they had to organize entrance exams and enrollment to keep their state funds. Students blocking the faculties did not protest the entrance exams, which were held in person, noting that a new wave of students could bring more life and new perspectives to the protests.

Recall that the faculty blockades began in early December, after an attack on the students from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, or the FDU, while they were holding a silent vigil for the victims of the canopy collapse tragedy in the northern city of Novi Sad. The FDU students blocked their faculty, demanding accountability from the state for the tragedy, and students from other faculties followed suit.

On Thursday the 24th, thousands of demonstrators rallied in the western city of Valjevo to protest against Rio Tinto’s ongoing lithium mining in the Jadar valley. Protesters chanted Ecology or oncology and Call the elections, coward! - mixing with the anti-regime protests that have taken over Serbia in the past eight months. The protest ended in a scuffle with the police. Some demonstrators added that they had seen someone throwing rocks and sharp glass towards the crowd from the ruling party’s office premises.

Protests against Rio Tinto’s Jadar lithium mining project have been going on since twenty twenty-one, when the exploitation of lithium started causing damage to the water and land of the western Jadar valley. The project has the support of the Serbian government and the EU.

On that note about the government, last week in Belgrade, Israeli investigators questioned Srulik Einhorn, an Israeli PR consultant wanted by the Israeli government for potential involvement in confidential data leaks. Einhorn is known in Serbia for collaborating with Vucic in the past, by doing promotional work for him and the ruling Serbian Progressive Party. Currently, he owns a consultancy firm in Belgrade worth several million dollars.

After the interrogation, the Serbian government refused to give out any information about it to the media, noting that it included parts that the Serbian prosecutors deemed strictly confidential.

Media outlet Balkan Insight reported that certain sources suggested that the interrogation touched on matters of Serbian national security, which is why the prosecutor deemed it confidential.

In updates on the NIS-US saga, on Thursday the 24th, the Serbian government requested the postponement of sanctions to the state-owned gas company NIS from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control by 180 days. The energy minister said that the NIS sanctions would seriously jeopardise Serbia’s economy and energy stability, adding that the postponement would allow Serbia to procure commercially viable crude oil for its oil refineries.

The US announced sanctions targeting NIS in early January, due to its largely Russian ownership. Since then, they postponed the sanctions several times, with the next deadline being Tuesday the 22nd. However, NIS has still not managed to shift its ownership to be mostly Serbian, so it is requesting more time.

Last week, the Ministry of Internal and External Trade reported the analytics of purchasing power trends for the month of March. They noted that the purchasing power rose slightly month-on-month, with the average consumer basket requiring ninety-nine percent of the average net salary to cover it, compared to February’s 103 percent. An average consumer basket for March amounted to around 105,000 dinars, which is about a thousand dollars, marking an increase of one percent compared to February.

Since we mentioned salaries, the State Statistical Office published the data on wages for the month of May, with the average net salary amounting to around 110,000 dinars, which is about 1,100 dollars, an increase of eight percent nominally compared to May twenty twenty-four. The median net salary amounted to 85,000 dinars, around 850 dollars.

While on the topic of the economy, last week, the National Bank published data for the first five months of twenty twenty-five about the balance of payments related to foreign direct investments, or FDIs. The statistics showed that Serbia has seen a sharp decline in the FDIs of nearly seventy percent in the first five months compared to the same period last year.

Economic analysts said that foreign companies are taking more money out of Serbia than they are bringing in, since the investment outflows have doubled. They noted that foreign companies saw profit hikes of around thirty percent, while domestic companies experienced a drop of around forty percent.

On that note about numbers dropping, the State Statistical Office reported on Friday the 25th that Serbia is experiencing a continuous demographic decline. They explained that Serbia saw around 30,000 births and around 50,000 deaths in the first half of twenty twenty-five, resulting in a natural decrease. Analysts noted that the natural decrease trend is directly connected to the mass emigration of the Serbian youth, due to inconvenient pricing, salaries, and living conditions.

Closing this edition on a brighter note, the 64th Trumpet festival will take place in the western village of Guca from the 8th to the 10th of August. Also known as the Guca Festival, it blends traditional Serbian music with more modern elements, such as DJ competitions and rap contests. The festival will feature more than just music, offering attendees the opportunity to visit the Trumpet Museum, a Book Fair and to participate in a traditional costume competition.

For more information about the festival, check out the link in the show notes!

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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Do daljnjeg, zbogom!