“Can Krsta Janjušević and Branko Bjelić answer me? In 2020 [parliamentary elections were held that year], I was promised that I would get a job. I was told then that if I gathered a certain number of votes, I would get a job. Bjelić is my neighbor, and since then he has not been able to say ‘good morning’. I am interested in why I did not get that job, but I was promised that I would.“, a woman from the crowd said to President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić in Nova Varoš, during live TV at one of his trademark public tours of Serbia, N1 reported. She added that her brother was made the same offer.
Branko Bjelić is the president of the Nova Varoš municipality, while Krsta Janjušević is the acting director of the “Srbijašume” state-owned enterprise, which manages state-owned forests and forest land. The pair was right behind Vučić.
Unfazed by this, Vučić asked: “Your issue with them, take it up with the two of them. Why didn’t you come to them in the municipality?“, to which the woman replied that she had.
You see, Serbia doesn’t have a corruption problem – Serbia is a corruption problem.
But maybe it’s the desperation that drives the common folk to ask for favors from the ruling party?
A public opinion poll conducted by the International Republican Institute’s (IRI) Center for Insights in Survey Research found that people of Serbia, when asked how they would describe their household’s economic situation, answered:
- 7 percent of respondents answered “very well”,
- 60 percent answered “mostly well”,
- 24 percent answered “mostly bad” and
- 7 percent answered “very bad”.
This is very similar to the responses from the May 2025 survey.
So two-thirds are not exactly starving, huh?
Y’all niggas had enough? (Gimme some more)
Y’all niggas want the wild shit? (Gimme some more)
Yo, Spliff, where the weed at? (Gimme some more)
I know y’all niggas need that (Gimme some more)
Even though we getting money, you can (Gimme some more)
With the cars and the big cribs (Gimme some more)
Everybody spread love (Gimme some more)
If you want it, let me hear you say it (Gimme some more)
– Busta Rhymes “Gimme Some More” (1998)
This televised display of local transactional mentality will not bring out crowds of outraged masses, yearning to drain the swamp. An electorate that votes and agitates in return for stuff will, when they don’t get their part of the bargain, look for a political option that rewards their loyalty with nicer stuff. If no better-bargain parties are to be found, the status quo will be maintained. The fact that buying and selling votes is a felony only strengthens the repulsion that such an electorate feels for a functioning rule of law.
The ruling Serbian Progressive party claims that it has roughly 750.000 members, which would make it the largest political party by membership in Europe. Which most likely isn’t far from the truth. Many acquaintances in Serbia will tell you that they or a member of their family joined the SNS in hopes of getting a job, a prospect that never materialized, but hey, they gave it a shot.
According to Transparency International, Serbia scored 33 points out of 100 on the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (100 is very clean, 0 is utterly corrupt). Corruption Index in Serbia averaged 35.57 Points from 2003 until 2025, reaching an all-time high of 42.00 Points in 2013 and a record low of 23.00 Points in 2003.
“Gde svi Turci tu i mali Mujo” is a Serbian proverb which translates to “Where all Turks are headed, so will little Mujo.” It signifies the wisdom of being a conformist and doing as everyone does. In Serbian minds, “everyone steals, so why shouldn’t I”. A sucky society will produce a sucky political and management class.
This also offers an explanation for the popularity of the nationalist part of the national-populist ideology in Serbia – those who desire free stuff will desire more territory, with more free stuff to plunder.
Serbianism 