Vucic films debate with empty chair of Ilija Srdanovic
In his father's yard in Jajince, he set up a chair with a photo of the Student List's top candidate and invited him to debate, but says federalization is off the table.
Aleksandar Vucic, who heads the “Aleksandar Vucic - United Serbia” list, posted a video on social media on October 6 in which he holds a televised debate with an empty chair. The clip was shot in the yard of his father’s house in Jajince. On the chair sits a photo of Ilija Srdanovic, the Student List’s top candidate, and next to it a cabbage stone. Vucic captioned the post “Dialogue with a cabbage stone.” Snap parliamentary elections are set for October 25, 2026.
Why did Vucic end up alone with a chair?
In the video, Vucic claims he offered Srdanovic a debate as soon as he was chosen to head the list, and never got an answer.
“From the moment they chose their top candidate, the so-called student list, I have offered a televised debate, a debate in any format.”
He adds that every invitation drew the same reply: “Vucic, you’re on ignore.” He explains the cabbage stone as a response to opponents’ claims that they will beat him “even if he were a cabbage stone.” He says he put the stone there “as support,” so they can be sure they are winning. He also says he will not belittle Srdanovic or anyone else, because that would only demean himself.
What did Vucic tell the photograph?
For his “debate” topic, Vucic took what he says was presented the day before as the main program, delivered by Nenad Canak, whom Vucic calls an ideologue and supporter of the Student List. By Vucic’s account, Canak said that the status of Vojvodina would have to be negotiated after the elections. Vucic calls this the list’s program and demands that Srdanovic publicly distance himself from it if that is not the case.
“We will not discuss federalization, confederalization or the breakup of Serbia, no matter who abroad you have backing from.”
Vucic said he is ready to talk about what citizens in northern Serbia and Vojvodina want, from new roads, hospitals and railways to science and technology parks and universities. He also cited Canak’s position on Kosovo: that Kosovo is “independent” has been accepted “in part of the world’s countries,” but, as he put it, “for Serbia and the Serbian people it is not, and never will be.”
He asked Srdanovic to deny this and to say that Canak’s words are not Student List policy. The video ends on an ironic note: he will carry the chairs everywhere with him so he can talk to Srdanovic from time to time. Srdanovic’s response to the video was not available at the time of writing.
In Vucic’s last line, the stone gets one more role:
“It still won’t be your policy, because I fear this stone might melt from the support you are rapidly losing.”
What came before the video?
The evening before, on October 5, Vucic appeared on the show “Cirilica” on Prva TV. He said his list would win “not by a small margin, but by a convincing one,” and expects a high turnout:
“A lot of money has been invested in bringing Serbia down. There will be a high turnout, and with that high turnout, which is a good reflection of democracy, it shows how and in what way the real mood of the people stands, and in such conditions we will beat them not by a small margin, but by a convincing one”
On the same show he said: “If you want it, I will be at the head of the resistance to terror, the resistance to totalitarianism, to all their threats. We will fight and we will defeat them.” Asked about the outcome of the vote, he replied that he would accept a defeat if it came, but: “barring some miracle, I think that is impossible.”
Vucic also commented on Srdanovic’s “ignoring” him in an interview with Prva TV, according to Novosti. He said Srdanovic had not put him on ignore, that it was an ignoring of the people, and that in a debate he would “eat him up like Panta ate the pie.” He added that those who “give Srdanovic orders from the plenum” know this.
The chair video is a new move in the campaign, following his earlier announcement of a rally in Novi Sad and a margin of 400,000 votes, which we reported on. Vucic claims that Student List representatives refuse debates and appear only at gatherings of like-minded supporters.
