EditVučić takes your order: highways first, then Kosovo, hold the NATO
How voters are reacting to the messages in the electoral ad will become clear on 25 October
Serbia is heading into early parliamentary elections on 25 October 2026 after nearly two years of protests that began with the Novi Sad railway-station disaster. Aleksandar Vučić resigned as president so he could campaign as an “ordinary citizen.” That ordinary citizen has now released his first campaign spot. He plays a waiter.
The setting is a restaurant. A multi-generational family sits at a table. They do not order food. They order the country. Vučić appears as the waiter taking notes.
Father: Highways.
Grandfather: That we don’t introduce sanctions on Russia and that we preserve Kosovo and Metohija.
Grandmother: Isn’t that a lot?
Son: Mom, let him choose what he wants.
Grandmother: Higher wages and pensions.
Additional family wishes: New maternity hospitals.
Youngest family member: Well, that Vučić leaves.
Father (intervening): Give him free education.
Young woman: EU and NATO membership.
Vučić (waiter, smiling): We don’t have NATO, but we have peace and stability.
Young woman: Okay, that works.
Vučić: What would you like for dessert?
Father: A stable dinar exchange rate.
Vučić: Agreed.
Grandmother (after Vučić leaves): A nice guy.
Closing graphic: clasped hands forming the outline of Serbia, then electoral logo.
НАТО? Немамо, али имамо мир и стабилност. А, шта бисте ви? pic.twitter.com/nnzSCL42mR
— Александар Вучић (@avucic) September 28, 2026
The conceit is almost perfect. A politician who spent years running the kitchen now appears in an apron, notepad in hand, taking requests from the very table he used to set. The family is allowed one moment of rebellion – the child’s wish that the waiter go home – before it is professionally redirected toward a policy that photographs well. NATO is the only item marked “86.” Everything else goes on the ticket.
The elections themselves were called after prolonged street pressure that the government could no longer ignore. Vučić’s response is to become the most attentive server in the room. He does not give a speech. He takes notes. He asks about dessert. The message is that the same man who already knows the specials is still happy to hear what you want, provided you stay seated and do not send the chef home.
Whether voters treat this as charming self-awareness or as a man who cannot stop working even when he is pretending to wait tables will be decided on 25 October. Until then, the kitchen remains open. Highways, Kosovo, pensions, and a stable currency are available. NATO is off the menu. Peace and stability come with every order. And according to grandmother, the service is fine.
It is not yet clear who wrote or directed Vučić’s waiter spot. The conceit, however, is familiar. In 2015 Benjamin Netanyahu appeared at a couple’s door as the “Bibi-sitter,” offering to watch the children while implying that only he could be trusted with the house. That ad was produced under Aron Shaviv, Netanyahu’s campaign strategist; it later won a Pollie Award, and Likud won the election that followed. Both films put the incumbent in a service role so that power can look like care: one man taking the order, one man staying after the parents leave. Whether the Serbian version is homage, coincidence, or the same international toolkit is unknown. The method is not.
Caption: Videograb from the ad
Updated: September 30, 2026 - 06:42
