RTS responds to the Student List and CRTA: Invitation for debate with Vučić remains open

The news division of Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) has officially responded to the refusals of the election-monitoring organization CRTA and the Student List, which declined the invitation for the pre-election debate. As Danas.rs reports, the public broadcaster explains in detail the rationale for its invitations, stressing that the aim was for the public, in the same programme, to hear different perspectives on the electoral process.

To CRTA, RTS clarified that it was not invited as an election candidate, but as an organization that monitors the electoral process — so that in one programme, both election participants and organizations that observe and assess the conditions under which elections are held would be represented side by side. According to Danas.rs’s reporting, RTS also raised a public question: David Krstić was appointed on 15 September 2026 deputy member of the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) in its expanded composition, proposed by the “Studentska lista – Studenti pobeđuju” list, while CRTA had publicly presented Krstić as a legal associate and member of its legal team. RTS stresses that it does not conclude that CRTA is an election participant, but that the questions raised are legitimate.

To the Student List, RTS repeated the invitation to the list’s leader, Ilija Srdanović, for a debate with Aleksandar Vučić. As Danas.rs reports, the public broadcaster clarified that Vučić was invited as the leader of the “Ujedinjena Srbija – Aleksandar Vučić” list, not in his capacity as president. RTS also rejected Srdanović’s claim that RTS had broadcast nothing about the Student List in 18 days, stating that campaign material from the list’s representatives is aired daily in the pre-election blocks, under the same conditions and duration as for the other lists.

The invitation for debate remains open for 29 September and 1 October, including the invitation to CRTA’s director, Vukosava Crnjanski. The first offered date is two days after 27 September, the day Vučić publicly announced his resignation.