Hanging Out: Serbia’s Ruling Party Funfair is About Suppressing Voter Turnout

Without Novi Sad’s EXIT Festival, this year’s summer entertainment in Serbia was provided by the ruling Progressive Party funfair. After a long day visiting factories, inspecting schools, roadworks and parks, government ministers, advisers, and local authorities hung out with people under white tents. The show included music, dancing, feasting, and live television broadcasts. Just in the first 18 days of August, President Aleksandar Vucic made 64 live appearances on Serbian TV, according to the Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability, CRTA. Not quite a formal election campaign, if you ask Vucic. Something between a ‘presidential tour’ and a prequel to the actual election campaign that everyone expects in the autumn. Such media domination is familiar to those who follow populism; party leaders skip formal institutions and speak directly to the people. When this media takeover combines with the atmosphere of a village fair, people tend to ask private questions publicly. Here’s where the media literacy classes provided by Serbia’s tabloids begin paying off.