I’ve put together part 2 of today’s Serbian election blog. Hopefully I’ll be able to post here more tomorrow, though I expect to be busy from morning until late at night, and I also have a piece to write for my editors. But there will definitely be a lot more next week. The first half of this blog is free, and the second half is behind a paywall. I am immensely grateful to all who are willing to pay $5 to support my work.
As for me, I can say that I am getting more and more nervous as tomorrow approaches. This is the most worried I’ve been about events in Serbia in all the years I’ve been visiting the country. Nothing has been this big or this important.
The Red Star Factor
There’s a Crvena Zvezda (Red Star) match against OFK Beograd tomorrow afternoon at 4pm, which some say is definitely not a coincidence. A Crvena Zvezda game on election day means football hooligans from Delije, the club’s somewhat notorious (to put it mildly) Ultras, will be out on the streets. This is significant because of Vučić’s own well-documented relationship to the club and to Delije, and because of the ignoble role that football fans have played in recent Serbian history. Since the 1990s, they have served as a kind of informal state security and have been dispatched to do various dirty jobs, from fighting in wars to beating the government’s political opponents. Their presence on the streets of Belgrade tomorrow will only add to an already polarized and tense atmosphere, and give Vučić extra muscle if he feels he needs it.
An Urgent Notice from the Belgrade Bar Association
The Belgrade Bar Association put out an “urgent notice” earlier today which has many people concerned. According to new procedures that went into effect at 7:30 am this morning, the court registry will operate outside of normal working hours. The Belgrade Bar Association writes of these modifications: “It is evident that this change in the organization of the Belgrade Higher Court’s work has been introduced because of the forthcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for 25 October 2026, and the anticipated arrests or detention of suspected persons.” The last sentence is the most concerning, as it appears that the government is planning for a large number of arrests tomorrow.
A graph showing the five largest student rallies and protests vs the biggest SNS rallies
