Serbia’s President Claims Victory In Elections Amid Reported Irregularities

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

BELGRADE (Worthy News) – Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s party has claimed victory in snap parliamentary elections despite concerns about his perceived autocratic style and reports of voting irregularities.

His Serbian Progressive Party, or SNS, was due to maintain its majority in parliament, according to exit polls and first official results. A projection based on a sample vote count gave nearly SNS 47 percent of the vote.

Opposition parties under the Serbia Against Violence banner are well behind with roughly 23.3 percent of the vote, according to projections.

“This is an absolute victory, and it makes me happy,” Vucic said.

The Socialist Party of Serbia of outgoing foreign minister Ivica Dacic came in third with 6.7 percent of the vote.

The parliamentary election, the fifth since 2012, coincided with local elections in most municipalities, the capital, Belgrade, and the northern province of Vojvodina.

However, independent observers reported hundreds of irregularities, including organized arrivals of voters at polling stations, photographing of ballots, and procedural errors.

‘VOTERS BUSSED IN’

They said many voters had been “bussed in,” including from the Serbian part of the ethnically devised country of Bosnia-Herzegovina, known as Republika Srpska.
The pollsters also said that SNS won the most votes in Belgrade with 38.6 percent of the vote for city council and mayor, while the opposition SPN came second with 35 percent of the vote.

It was unclear as to what extent the reported irregularities impacted the outcome.

With its population of 1.4 million people, Belgrade represents about a quarter of Serbia’s electorate, and its mayor is seen as one of the most influential officials in Serbia, analysts said.

Serbia Against Violence accused the ruling party of election fraud and said it would complain to the state election commission.
“We have witnessed a serious attempt to steal elections,” Miroslav Aleksic, one of its leaders, complained late Sunday.

A total of 18 parties and alliances competed for the support of the 6.5 million-strong electorate for 250 seats in parliament. The threshold for entering parliament is 3 percent of votes.

The reported tensions were expected further to complicate Serbia’s relationship with the European Union. It seeks to join the EU, but the president’s perceived autocratic style and close relations with Russia are among the issues overshadowing the move. He is also under pressure over handling the crisis in Kosovo, the former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008, a move Belgrade does not recognize.

Yet his supporters view Vucic as the only leader who can maintain stability and lead the country into a better future. He also faced massive protests after two mass shootings killed 19 people, including 10 at a school wishing a week in May. Protesters, already angry over high inflation and other economic ills, said the government’s rhetoric played a role in the bloodshed.

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