Fico Skips Belgrade Arena Rally as Crowd Counts Differ
Slovakia's prime minister sent a letter read out by actor Lazar Ristovski. Police cite over 73,000 people, the Public Gatherings Archive 5,000 to 6,000 outside the hall.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico did not travel to the rally of the “Aleksandar Vucic - United Serbia” list at the Belgrade Arena on Saturday, October 3, 2026, so actor Lazar Ristovski read his letter from the stage. Estimates of the turnout diverge: according to the editor-in-chief of Informer, the Interior Ministry (MUP) puts the crowd at over 73,000, while the Public Gatherings Archive estimates that between 5,000 and 6,000 people were outside the hall.
Fico had been announced as a special guest, as we reported when his visit was first announced. The rally officially began at 6 p.m., and the Arena gates opened at 3:30 p.m. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 25.
Why did Fico not come to the Arena rally?
The Slovak prime minister’s personal physician did not approve air travel. Two statements give different reasons: according to the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), it was the aftermath of the assassination attempt, while the press office of the Slovak government cites a viral infection.
Ristovski read the letter after the opening speeches, at a time Informer’s chronology logs as 6:29 p.m. In it, Fico addressed Vucic as a friend and wrote about his resignation:
Aleksandar did something that no one would - he resigned and took a risk.
On Kosovo and Metohija, the Slovak prime minister said:
Slovakia will continue to respect the territorial integrity of Serbia. Let me repeat: when it comes to Kosovo and Metohija, we will never let you down.
In his speech, Vucic asked the crowd to thank Fico with applause. “We know he is with us and always will be,” he said.
How many people were in and outside the Arena?
The figure was announced in advance by SNS Presidency member Sinisa Mali, who said during the Cracklings Festival in Valjevo that around 70,000 people would be in and around the Arena. At 6:18 p.m., Informer editor-in-chief Dragan J. Vucicevic relayed the first MUP estimate of 71,500 people, covering the Arena, the plazas on its north, east and west sides, and the wider area around it. At 7:19 p.m. he gave a new estimate of over 73,000 gathered, of whom more than 35,000 were inside the hall itself.
The Public Gatherings Archive estimated that between 5,000 and 6,000 people were in front of the Belgrade Arena at 6:45 p.m. In its post about the estimate, it stated:
The method is to determine the boundaries of the gathering and estimate density on the ground (area calculated in GIS).
The Archive added that it does not estimate indoor gatherings, so its figure covers only the space in front of the hall. The two estimates therefore do not measure the same thing: one covers the hall, the plazas and the wider zone, the other only the surroundings of the hall, at a single moment.
What did Vucic promise from the stage?
Vucic’s address is logged in Informer’s chronology at 6:40 p.m. He first laid out a plan for the makeup of the future government:
Instead of 31 ministers, there will be only 12 and the prime minister. Whoever doesn’t like that, let them look for another prime minister.
He announced a “Government on wheels”: ministers will no longer be able to leave Belgrade twice a week for an event lasting an hour, and municipal officials, he said, do not visit villages often enough. Serbia’s outgoing president also said the goal is a convincing victory, because “anything below 50 percent is not a success,” and urged citizens to circle number 1 on October 25:
Nobody will take this victory from us, and we will not allow anyone to take our victory. Not anyone here, not anyone from abroad, because Serbia decides, the people decide.
On healthcare, he said the state of smaller communities pains him, and admitted a mistake. In Tanjug’s record of the speech, he says: “It is my mistake, I thought we were doing the right things. The hospitals cost 1.3 billion, 400 million euros.” A second record of the same sentence reads: “69 hospitals in 60 local governments cost 1.304 billion euros.” The two versions differ on the number of hospitals, and both refer to a total cost of roughly 1.3 to 1.4 billion euros, not an annual figure.
On foreign policy, he repeated the existing course:
We will not trample on our traditional friendships. For four and a half years we have held out against imposing sanctions on the Russian Federation, the only country in Europe to do so.
He also listed what, in his words, was built while the country was blocked:
- 48 kilometers of the Danube Corridor
- 42 kilometers of the Morava Corridor
- 23 kilometers of railway from Nis to Brestovac
- two science and technology parks and three new hospitals
Vucic also claimed that Dejan Soskic, former governor of the National Bank of Serbia, is the Student List’s candidate for prime minister, and that he “will not say” so. We found no response from the Student List to that claim. The same list held rallies in Vranje and Novi Pazar that day, where Jovo Bakic said: “We are crying out for justice.”
Who else spoke from the stage?
Citizens spoke before Vucic. Milijana Petrovic, mother of a girl with a rare disease, said her daughter is “one of 321 children who received a very expensive drug thanks to the state.” Pensioner Vihora Arsic said she had worked for 40 years. Jovan and Andjela Dakic of Pozarevac said they received the keys to their first apartment this year. Jasna Milovanovic addressed the crowd from Kosovo and Metohija, and Arno Gujon said he came to Serbia at the age of 19. Sisters Marina and Marija Gobovic performed the anthem, and Vesna Zmijanac, Aca Lukas and Mira Skoric were announced for the musical part of the program.
