BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Detentions, resignations, switching of sides, attempts to destroy evidence of wrongdoing.
News has been coming in at such a pace in the wake of former Serbian strongman Aleksandar Vucic's electoral defeat on Oct. 25 that a website dubbed “system breakdown” has been set up anonymously, with AI feeding information in real time.
From high school students accusing their principal of throwing away documentation to the closure of a bank linked by local media to Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party, the public has been gripped by the fast-moving developments in the postelection week.
Somewhat chaotic reports are seen by many in Serbia as a sign that Vucic's carefully crafted power system is collapsing swiftly following the stunning victory of a student movement at the early parliamentary ballot.
The Students' List winners are yet to formally take over power in the government administration, security agencies and the army. But the seismic shift in the balance of power is pushing events to unfold before the actual takeover takes place.
Vucic says he is not afraid, accusing election winners of 'terror'
Despite the electoral defeat, a defiant Vucic — now described as the leader of the opposition — has continued with his daily appearances on loyal media, accusing the student-led movement of “revolutionary terror” and vowing to fight back.
On Sunday evening, Vucic told Pink TV that “naturally, this is hard for my family and those who love me, but I am ready for everything and I will persist through anything.” Denying crime links, Vucic said he is not afraid of possible arrest because there will be no evidence against him.
“I don’t sign anything … and nothing will be found,” he said. “They don’t have anything.”
Some prominent figures have been detained
Officials jailed so far include Vucic’s chief of criminal police, Marko Kricak, and another senior police official, both suspected of abuse of office in connection with a high-profile murder investigation.
Kricak was notorious over accusations that he personally threatened a female student with rape during anti-government protests, but he was not jailed over those allegations.
On Monday, authorities also detained Davor Macura, the owner of private Alta Bank, whose license has been revoked. Macura is suspected of trying to take millions of dollars out of the bank's vault and faces charges of abuse of office, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors are asked to start working or resign
While waiting to form the new government, the election winners have called on prosecutors and judges to start doing their jobs or step down.
Scores of investigations into alleged top-level corruption cases remained incomplete under the previous government, including one into a Nov. 1, 2024, train station tragedy that triggered two years of student-led anti-graft protests.
Now, the Serbian public is waiting to hear what will come out of a review into some of the longstanding probes after the student movement promised there will no longer be untouchable officials.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Higher Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade complained of “an atmosphere of persecution and lynching,” after the election, along with “open political pressure by some social and political actors.”
The statement said the alleged pressure was designed to force resignations and that the European Union mission in Belgrade and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have been informed.
New complaints are piling up
Prosecutors have been swamped with new complaints over incidents that vary from suspected election fraud to threats and violence against protesters, journalists and activists. Organized crime prosecutors also initiated procedures to determine whether some of them had been placed under illegal surveillance.
On Monday, lawyer Ivan Ninic alleged a “criminal conspiracy” involving a justice ministry official and over three dozen prison wardens across Serbia, saying they pressured or bribed inmates to vote for Vucic during last week's ballot.
Ninic presented what he said were screenshots of online chats, with officials exchanging information about how many votes they managed to gather — Vucic's SNS won overwhelmingly in Serbia's prisons.
In Mali Zvornik, on the border with Bosnia, police detained six people accused of granting false residence papers to Bosnian citizens so they could vote for Vucic's party at the election.
Changes started first in the media
Some of the mainstream media in Serbia that were at the forefront of Vucic's propaganda machinery have been the first to regroup.
Previously staunchly pro-Vucic media outlets quickly adopted a more neutral position, while some television channels canceled chunks of their programs altogether and owners reportedly fled the country. State RTS television overhauled its leadership and apologized to its viewers for unprofessional reporting.
But some of Vucic's main mouthpieces, like broadcasters Informer and Pink, remain loyal, hosting the former leader daily in their programs.
Vucic's party faces pressure in cities and towns across the country
The election was for Serbia's 250-member parliament and did not include local governments across the country. Now, calls are mounting for early municipal elections.
Vucic's SNS lost in the capital, Belgrade, and most other towns, after it previously controlled the country down to every village, with the exception of one urban municipality in the southern city of Nis.
Throughout Serbia, employees in theaters, museums, culture associations, schools and hospitals are demanding that SNS-appointed managers immediately step down.
In Belgrade, Fifth High School principal Ognjen Mrvaljevic denied that he was throwing away relevant school documentation, N1 television reported. He said in comments carried by local media that he was just getting rid of unnecessary papers.
Vucic's party's “expiration date has passed,” analyst Slobodan Stupar said. “It will all fall like dominoes.”
