President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday that the media in Serbia have never been more open than in the current campaign for the June 21 elections.

He told the pro-government TV Pink that the state of the media is a good thing for Serbia. “Interestingly, that some people who complained that they aren’t in the media had a higher rating among the public before appearing on the public broadcaster (RTS) and some private TV stations,” the president said.  

Vucic, who also heads the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), said that the campaign video of himself talking to a young girl which was banned by the electronic media watchdog REM (Regulatory Body for Electronic Media) did not include any child abuse. He said that the criticism was part of efforts to ban him from appearing in the media and denied waging a negative campaign.  

He claimed that his party’s campaign video was banned but that the rules do not apply “to the other side”.