Thousands Rally Against Serbia’s ‘Fraudulent Vote’
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BELGRADE (Worthy News) – A tense calm returned Sunday to Serbia’s capital after thousands of people rallied there in the biggest protest yet against hardline President Aleksandar Vucic, who they accuse of orchestrating fraud in this month’s parliamentary and municipal elections.
The mass rally in central Belgrade on Saturday capped two weeks of sometimes violent street protests against reported irregularities during the December 17 vote that international observers also condemned.
In recent days, Serbian police detained at least 38 people who participated in one of the protests after security forces fired pepper spray at opposition supporters.
The violence occurred as hundreds of protesters attempted to storm Belgrade City Hall last Sunday, December 24, to express anger over the declared election results.
Serbia’s governing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won the elections with 46.72 percent of the votes, the state election commission said.
But the main opposition alliance, Serbia Against Violence, who came in second with about a quarter of the ballots cast, claimed the election was stolen, especially in voting for the Belgrade city authorities. The Socialist Party of Serbia of outgoing foreign minister Ivica Dacic came in third with about 7 percent of the vote.
INDEPENDENT OBSERVERS
The parliamentary election, the fifth since 2012, coincided with local elections in most municipalities, including Belgrade, as well as 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.
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.
Vucic had no doubts about the outcome. “This is an absolute victory, and it makes me happy,” he said.
Yet the controversy over the elections is expected to undermine Serbia’s attempt to one day join the European Union.
The country is also under pressure over its close relations with Russia, which invaded Ukraine, and its refusal to recognize its former province of Kosovo as an independent nation.
LICENSE PLATES
However, there was a small breakthrough on the Kosovo dossier in recent days as Serbia announced it would authorize vehicles with Kosovo license plates to enter the country.
With Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia, which Belgrade and its key allies Russia and China refuse to recognize, car plates became a flashpoint over their display of national symbols that former warring foes both object to.
Until now, vehicles from either Kosovo or Serbia could cross the border only if they placed stickers to hide the respective symbols.
The decision was made to “enable freedom of movement to all vehicles” from Kosovo, said the head of Serbia’s Office for Kosovo, Petar Petkovic.
Yet, as the country entered 2024, tensions in the turbulent Balkan nation seemed far from over.
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