page_title: Aleksandar Vučić
section_title: President (2017–present)
hierarchical_section_title: Aleksandar Vučić / Political career / President (2017–present)
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Торжественная речь Президента Сербии Александра Вучича English: Speech by the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić
context_page_description: Aleksandar Vučić is a Serbian politician who is currently serving as the President of Serbia since 2017. After leaving the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party in 2008, he became one of the founders of the populist conservative Serbian Progressive Party and he has been the party's president since 2012.
  Vučić served as the prime minister of Serbia in two terms from 2014 to 2016 and from 2016 until 2017, as well as the deputy prime minister from 2012 until 2014. Furthermore, Vučić served as a member of the Serbian parliament, Minister of Information from 1998 to 2000 and later as Minister of Defence from 2012 to 2013. In April 2017, Vučić was elected president with over 55% of the vote in the first round, thus avoiding a second round. He formally assumed office on 31 May 2017, succeeding Tomislav Nikolić. His ceremonial inauguration ceremony was held on 23 June 2017.
  As Minister of Information under the Slobodan Milošević administration, he introduced restrictive measures against journalists, especially during the Kosovo War. In the period after the Bulldozer Revolution, Vučić was one of the most prominent figures of the opposition.
context_section_description: The election result sparked protests around Serbia. Thousands of protesters accused Vučić of leading the country towards authoritarianism. Protesters organised the rallies through social networks and insist they are not linked to any party or politician, and demand a total overhaul of what they call "corrupt political, business and media systems that serve an elite led by Mr Vučić". Vučić maintained that the protests were organized by his political opponents who expected "the dictator would bring the police into the streets."
  However, Vučić was sworn in as President of Serbia on 31 May, in front of Parliament. He promised to continue with reforms and said Serbia will remain on a European path. He also said Serbia will maintain military neutrality, but continue to build partnerships with both NATO and Russia.
  After becoming president, Vučić disbanded the traditional police security service responsible for President's protection, and replaced it with members of the Cobras, military police unit which contrary to the law, protected him while he served as the Prime Minister from 2014 to 2017.
  Since late 2018 and into early 2019, thousands of Serbians have taken to the streets to protest the presidency of Vučić. The protesters charge that Vučić and the SNS are corrupt and that Vučić is trying to cement himself as an autocrat, which he denies. In 2019, Freedom House report that Serbia's status declined from Free to Partly Free due to deterioration in the conduct of elections, continued attempts by the government and allied media outlets to undermine independent journalists through legal harassment and smear campaigns, and Vučić's accumulation of executive powers that conflict with his constitutional role. After Vučić's announcement of the reintroduction of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of people protested, accusing the government of missteps in handling of the pandemic, including the premature lifting of restrictions and downplaying the risk in order to hold the elections. Some analysts said that they had not witnessed police violence in Serbia since the Slobodan Milošević's regime.
caption: Aleksandar Vučić during his speech
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "4928", "Image ImageLength": "3280", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D4S", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2018:06:12 21:32:50", "Image Artist": "VUGAR AMRULLAYEV", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "VUGAR", "Image ExifOffset": "356", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "1084", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1198", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5043", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/100", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1250", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:06:12 19:13:56", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:06:12 19:13:56", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "415241/62500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "361471/100000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "1/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "1778", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "200", "EXIF SubSecTime": "20", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "20", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "20", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2362", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1641", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1052", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "200", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}