Much unbeknownst to most people in the world, Serbia is, in many ways, looking at its most important election since the 2000 revolutionary elections that toppled the government of Slobodan Milosevic. For months now, the quiet before yet another political storm in the Balkans has been present on the streets and in homes throughout the country. The lack of will among voters to put up with more promises of reform and progress is now almost palpable, since state, provincial and municipal elections were announced for May 6 [en] just weeks ago. As politicians and their parties have started campaigning avidly, so have many bloggers broken their silence on this issue. What most seem to express is one form or another of apathy and whom not to vote for. These political opinions, or lack thereof, are most often expressed on social networks these days, with many taking to Facebook and posting public notes on the subject. A young man from Novi Sad posted one such note, titled ELECTIONS. Why NOT to vote for the current government [sr], with a list of facts, including debt, inflation, unemployment, and activities of several Serbian ministries since 2008, that the current government is responsible for: - Debt in 2008, 20.53 billion Euros, in 2012, 25.14 billion Euros – Exchange rate in 2008, 80.3788RSD = 1€, in 2012, 111.634RSD = 1€ – Average [net] salary in 2008, 47,883RSD, in 2012, 36,639RSD (both are unrealistic amounts as average salaries of all employed citizens are counted, without those who are unemployed, while it is common knowledge that outside major cities people work for a minimum wage of 24,000RSD) – There are 200,000 people employed by this government, while over 400,000 others have lost their jobs, although one should take into account that employment rates have been pumped up by temporary jobs, such as newsstands that employ and fire some 40 people annually, making it questionable how many jobs are actually permanently retained. […] The list goes on and is only one of many like it that mention the factual amounts spent by the current government and their political counterparts in the name of reform and betterment. Serbs have a tendency, due to the country’s turbulent past, to be well aware of political and economic matters and many are just as well informed when it comes to the European and global economies and political situations. One of Serbia’s most popular bloggers, whom we have quoted here before, also calls attention to unemployment and other political and economic failures of the past four years in a text titled Jobs Are Out There Waiting, Just As Soon As Elections Are Over [sr]. Mahlat bases this particular blog post on the campaign promises of over a dozen political parties taking part in the upcoming elections that are all highly focused on raising employment and lowering national debt, but also includes comparison and contrast to EU countries: During this pre-election time, we could open hundreds of topics related to the hundreds of issues that this country is realistically faced with, but I am most touched, irritated and flabbergasted by the matter of employment, the large number of those unemployed, the rising unemployment rate and, of course, the de-partisation of that. Serbia has the same problem that all the countries in Europe have – lowered number of jobs, large unemployment rates among young people that is on the rise each year, pregnant women losing their jobs, the problem of mothers with small children finding employment… The crisis that began in 2008 is still current. The unemployment rate in the Euro Zone is at 21%… The Institute for Statistics of the Republic of Serbia reported in January that the unemployment rate in Serbia was at 23.7% at the end of November of 2011. […] What we are battling is equal to the battle in EU countries – with rising unemployment trends. And everyone claims that they have issues with inadequate training among employees, that there should be reforms in the education system, that there are no real programs for employing the young. […] After a set of comparisons and contrasts to European statistics and mentions of campaign employment promises, Mahlat concludes: If you’ve come this far [in reading], it must be clear to you by now that we have the same issues and that jobs won’t appear even with the help of a magic trick, so I ask those comrades who are promising them to turn to stabilizing the nation so that they can then speak of creating jobs. And to come out with a plan. How? When? They must have some idea of this? Because if they keep promising to give what they don’t have, we won’t budge from this dead spot. Serbia has to work.