In what was said to have been a paid air time on pro-regime Pink TV, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic, got out of a refrigerator on Thursday night holding a jar with pickles to huge applause of a big crowd in the studio, including his TV hosts, and followed by a song saying “Deeds Are Speaking.”

The idea to make such an appearance ahead of the April 3 presidential election came from a spot showing him doing that at a home of a young couple but probably originated from people saying he was so present in the media that he might get out of a refrigerator, a common expression in Serbian for someone present everywhere and all the time.“

„Everybody is so bored with me that they think I’ll show up from the fridge,“ Vucic said during one of his campaign’s appearances.

Vucic is facing seven other candidates on Sunday, with retired general Zdravko Ponos, for the ‘United for Serbia’s Victory’ coalition as the most serious challenger.

In his final address to potential voters, hours before the election silence started at midnight, Vucic was accompanied by the most prominent people from his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) election list for general elections, also due on Sunday.

In the audience were folk music stars and other well-known public figures.

Vucic mostly reiterated what he said during the campaign and added that many ministers told him they scored the best results in their second mandate. He said Serbia was a safe country and that there was no fear of wars and crises.

He also said that his and his party campaigns were not hostile, while “we were sometimes a punching bag” for political opponents and “their media.”