Since the announcement of early elections in Serbia, Serbian President Aleksandër Vucic has raised the claim that the opposition, through the media, is attacking his family and thus all Serbian families, with accusations that Vucic’s biological father is an Albanian journalist. A verification of Faktoje shows that the thesis, which has been repeated for at least 10 years, has been brought back to attention by Vucic himself. Researcher Nikola Petrovic from ISAC Fund Serbia sees this as a strategy by the Serbian Progressive Party to discredit the opposition ahead of the December 17 elections.

Jona Plumbi

Serbia is under pre-election fever.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic dissolved the government and the country announced early parliamentary elections on December 17, as well as local elections in several cities and municipalities, including the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

With the start of the electoral campaign in Serbia, an old ghost was also “revived”, which, although it has been recycled for at least 10 years, still manages to get increased attention in Serbia and then in the region.

Claim recycled

The claim raised and shared by the Serbian media is that the biological father of the Serbian president Aleksandar Vučič is, in fact, the Kosovo Albanian, the journalist Fahri Musliu. This claim has been circulating in Serbia for at least 10 years.

• 2014 – New contributions to the biography of Aleksandër Vucic: Son of Fahria
• 2017 – Shocking: Albanians at the head of Serbia
• 2018 – It was said that he is the father of Vucic, the Albanian journalist: I know his mother, but not…
• 2022 – Nano surprises with the statement: Vucic is Albanian, here are the facts

But the bringing back to the attention of this “pink” thesis of Serbian politics, this time came from Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic himself.

On October 29, Serbian media reported that in a several-hour interview on Serbian television Prava, talking about the attacks of the opposition in Serbia, Vučić brought up the thesis of his background.

” They attack me because I have ugly lips, I haven’t done anything to my lips, it’s my mother’s fault that I was born like that. It’s a genetic matter. They accuse me that my father is Fahrudin Musliu. On this occasion, I tell you that my father’s name is Angjelko Vucic and not Fahrudin Musliu “, Aleksandar Vucic is reported to have said. In his statement, Vucic does not specify who “they” are who accuse him.

From an in-depth search on the web, no statement or media article can be found that talks about this topic, at least from the moment the early elections were announced. To confirm our findings, we asked journalist Sanja Kljajic , Deutsche Welle’s correspondent for Serbia, who confirmed to us that “it was Vucic himself who brought his father’s thesis to attention.”

He did not mention anyone specifically, but said that he was responding to the issues for which “they” attack him. Who are “they” of course remained undefined.” – Sanja Klajic, Deutsche Welle, Serbia

Despite this, what comes out in abundance on the network are the statements of Vučič denying that he has an Albanian father.

• Vucic: They accuse me that my father is Fahrudin Musliu – October 29
• Vucic: My father is Andelko Vucic, not Fahrudin Musliu! – October 30
• Vucic: I tell you once again, my father is Andelko – November 3

Chronology

A few days after the October 29 interview, when Vučič brought to the attention of the Serbian public the thesis that raises doubts about his biological father, “Danas” media published an article referring to this statement by Vučič entitled “Albanian in Belgrade: Who is Fahri Musliu , Who does Vucic say is not his father ?”

Danas writes that the journalist Fahri Musliu ‘suffered years ago because of the statements of some Serbian journalists who claimed that he is the biological father of the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic’.

As if it were not enough that the tabloids are making his life miserable, there is also Vučić who little by little and publicly (without any need) says that Musliu is not his father. – writes Danas in the article.

The Serbian Ministry of Information reacted within 24 hours.

She condemned Dana’s article, claiming that the article casts doubt on the credibility of Serbia’s president and his family and violates Serbia’s Journalism Code. In particular, we emphasize that this text directly insults the personality and credibility of the President of the Republic of Serbia, whose role by law expresses the unity of the Republic of Serbia, as well as insults the members of his family”, the Serbian ministry’s communique says .

rhetoric

A day after the Ministry of Information’s reaction to Dana’s article, Vucic published a video on his Instagram. Next to his father, Vucic expressed his appreciation for his parents and raised the claim that the attacks on his family are in fact an attack on Serbian families as a whole.

“They didn’t just attack our family, my mother, my father’s wife, as well as me and my father, they attacked every family in Serbia, they want the destruction of our families.” – says Vucic in the video .

Although “those” attacking remained unidentified, the media widely reported Vucic’s rhetoric as his response to his accusers.

In the video, Vucic says that it is necessary to respond to the numerous attacks, even though he only manages to quote the Dana article of November 2 as “accusatory”.

Nikola Petrovic, researcher and founder of the ISAÇ Foundation in Serbia, told Faktoje that narratives such as that of Vucic’s biological father are revived by Vucic and his team as part of the Serbian Progressive Party’s electoral campaign.

“The general parliamentary and local elections in Serbia are scheduled for December 17 of this year, and like every other time before, the SNS (Serbian Progressive Party) team is using strategies to discredit the opposition parties and the pro-opposition media, launching a preventive campaign by promoting such misinformed narratives as if they were the opposition’s true narrative and intent. That’s why the sentence “…this is an attack on President Vucic and his family…” has been heard hundreds of times in the last decade, both by the SNS elite and the pro-government media”. – argues Petrovic for Faktoje.

Vucic resigned from the leadership of the Serbian Progressive Party in May of this year, but continues to campaign for his party. On the other side is the Serbian opposition that has decided to unite, after organizing several months of protests against Vučić and his government, after two cases of mass shootings occurred in less than 48 hours, leaving 17 dead, including eight children.

cONcluSiON

The distribution of disinformation narratives in social networks and media for the effect of electoral campaigns has become a well-known strategy by now. It is precisely in this category that the narrative that raises doubts about the real father of the Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic falls.

In chess, players make a move known as a gambit. According to this move, the player at the beginning sacrifices one or more stones without much importance, in order to gain a more advantageous position later and win the game. The bringing to the attention of the public and the media by Vučić himself of a thesis that casts doubt on his background, the following statements to deny a charge that is not at all political or serious, and the use of the rhetoric of this attack directed at all Serbian families, seems like a “gambit” game by the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, in search of a better position, before the December 17 elections.