Belgrade sends Croatia a protest note over 6,282 media items mentioning Vučić - while in his campaign ads he flies a Škoda through the clouds

Serbia holds snap parliamentary elections on October 25, and Serbian diplomacy has already found the culprit: the Croatian media. The Foreign Ministry in Belgrade has sent Croatia a protest note over what Serbian media describe as "the grossest interference in the electoral process in Serbia" and increasingly biased reporting on the country's internal politics.

The main evidence is statistical. In the Croatian media space over the last two months, from August 15 to October 15, Belgrade counted a total of 6,282 media items and posts mentioning Aleksandar Vučić. It is concerned about the "one-sided and markedly negative portrayal" of conditions in Serbia and about attempts to present the political processes there as a threat to the stability of the whole region.

The note calls for "mutual respect and constructive dialogue" and respect for Serbia's internal processes, without outside pressure on the election campaign. Sounds reasonable - until you look at what is actually being broadcast in the campaign itself.

A flying car and Fazlija's "Helikopter"

Vučić, who resigned as president at the end of September, heads the "Aleksandar Vučić - United Serbia" list and is running for prime minister. On October 13 he posted an AI-generated video on his Instagram: his car flies through the clouds while "Helikopter" by Bosnian singer Fazlija plays in the background. The caption reads: "See you in Zaječar" - an invitation to his party's campaign rally.

The video was a response to claims spreading on social media the day before that he had arrived at a rally in Kragujevac by helicopter. Vučić denied it, saying he travels around Serbia by car. Then he decided to make fun of the whole story: he ironically called his Škoda a "helicopter" and, on screen at least, let it take off.

Company for grandpa, Israeli-style

Three days earlier, on October 10, a very different ad came out. A married couple opens the door to an unexpected guest on the doorstep - Vučić, who has come to keep an elderly man company while the two of them go on a trip. "You were looking for someone you can rely on," he says. The problem is that an almost identical script already exists. On January 31, 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released an ad in which he turns up at the door of a young couple waiting for a babysitter: "You ordered a babysitter? You got a Bibi-sitter." That ad later went on to win an American political advertising award.

The link isn't just visual. According to earlier investigative reporting, Israeli political strategist Srulik Einhorn, who worked for Netanyahu's Likud, has been involved in the campaigns of Vučić and the Serbian Progressive Party since at least 2020. Einhorn also features in Israel's "Qatargate" affair, and Israeli police have issued a warrant for his arrest. Nobody has confirmed that he was the one who came up with the new ad.

So who exactly is meddling in whose election? Belgrade is counting Croatian articles, while its lead candidate's ad is almost a copy of an Israeli prime minister's commercial, with an AI-generated flying car thrown in. The party barely gets a mention in the ads - it's all Vučić, from the clouds to the village shop in a third video, in which he plays an ordinary man of the people.

On October 25 Vučić will face a student list that wants to bring down his government. Whether a flying car is enough for voters, the election will show. Until then the question remains: how thin is the line between criticism and "election interference" when the government itself is counting the articles?