An online survey conducted in late August 2015 suggests that the question of snap parliamentary elections strongly polarized citizens. Asked whether elections should be called, 46.36% say “yes,” 36.36% say “no,” and 17.27% are undecided. So there is a relative majority in favour of elections, but almost as many people see them as an unnecessary expense with no real effect.
Open-ended responses reveal the key motive on both sides: distrust. Those who support elections most often describe them as a chance to “change the government,” “stop the decline,” or “reduce the power” of the current administration. By contrast, opponents repeat that elections would be “a waste of money,” “a campaign paid by the people,” and that they “would not bring change” because “the same ones would win again.” In both camps, the same conclusion appears: the system is not set up to guarantee a genuine political turnover.
When respondents are asked why Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić would call elections at all, the most common answer is: to extend his mandate (30.81%). A much smaller share believe in a “democratic motive”—that citizens should confirm or reject the government’s policy (9.30%). Other reasons are distributed across political tactics: improving results in Vojvodina (14.53%) and in local elections (13.37%), or changing coalition partners (8.14%). The picture is clear: elections are perceived more as an instrument of control than as a mechanism to correct those in power.
Ratings of Vučić further highlight the perception of concentrated power: the most frequently chosen statement is that he “has the power to influence policy implementation and the work of institutions” (30.99%). Next come assessments that he conducts policy in line with party ideology (19.72%) and that he acts independently according to his own priorities (18.31%). The fewest respondents believe that he “respects the law” (4.93%), “keeps promises” (2.82%), or “has the necessary knowledge and experience” (5.63%).
When this spills over into voting intentions, a crisis of political supply becomes visible: 12.73% would not vote, 15.45% do not know whom they would vote for, and 9.09% would spoil their ballot. Among the named options, the largest single preference goes to the SRS (13.64%), while the SNS receives 3.64%—which says more about the sample structure than about the parties’ real strength. Half of respondents classify their family as working class (50%), and another 39.09% as middle class; material status is most often rated as a “3” (46.36%) or a “2” (30.91%).
Methodological note: The survey was conducted online on 29 August 2015 (109 responses). The sample is self-selected and non-representative, so the findings reflect the views of survey participants rather than the overall population.