Serbia’s president-elect on his critics, Merkel and the outlook for the region.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić sat down with POLITICO on Wednesday for his first extensive interview since winning his country’s presidential election in a landslide.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU leaders regard Vučić, 47,  as the guarantor of stability in an unstable region. But Vučić’s detractors say the conservative president-elect has consolidated power to the detriment of Serbian democracy. In the interview, he responded to those criticisms, discussed his admiration for Tito and the outlook for the western Balkans.

What follows is an edited transcript.

You won Sunday’s election with 55 percent of the vote. Everyone expected you to win, but were you surprised by how commanding your victory was in the end?

http://www.politico.eu/article/q-and-a-with-aleksandar-vucic-serbia-prime-minister-president-election/