Vucic's party announces victory in almost all cities, the opposition accuses of irregularities

2024-06-03 10:12:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Vucic's party announces victory in almost all cities, the opposition

Aleksander Vucic

Serbia's ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) appears headed for victory in repeat elections in Belgrade, as well as June 2 local elections in other cities. The elections in Belgrade were repeated because there was no clear winner in the December elections.

But the opposition has complained of irregularities in the June 2 local elections in Serbia, causing the political environment to continue to be tense in the country.

Based on 51 percent of the votes counted in Belgrade, Serbia's non-governmental organization CeSid predicted that the SNS, which is backed by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, is leading with 53 percent, while the center-right party Movement for Change of Savo Manojllovic, is the second with 17.2 percent.

"This is... an extraordinary victory," Vu?i? told a media conference, adding that his party will have a majority in the 110-seat Belgrade City Assembly, as well as in Novi Sad.

However, Manojllovic said his coalition will not recognize the election results.

"These are the most irregular elections ever," he said on the evening of June 2. Turnout was lower than in the December 2023 elections in Belgrade, as several opposition parties decided not to participate, claiming there were no conditions for fair and democratic elections.

The opposition coalitions Serbia against Violence and Hope accused the SNS-led coalition of stealing votes in the December 17 elections, where numerous irregularities were found by local and international observation missions.

Serbian authorities have repeatedly denied that there were any serious irregularities in the election. Observers and opposition parties in the June 2 election again reported irregularities during the day.

The non-governmental monitoring mission CRTA said it has filed seven criminal complaints over suspicions of irregularities at polling stations, saying its members recorded incidents of organized transport of voters to polling stations and that there was vote swapping for money.

Opposition members reported that call centers were used by the SNS to buy voters and that they contained alternative lists.

Ana Bërnabiq, former Prime Minister from the SNS and now Speaker of the Assembly, denied the accusations.

"We have a call center. We have members who, on election day, invite other members and supporters, family members, neighbors and friends to come out and vote," she wrote on social media.

Police in Novi Sad said that several police officers were attacked, although they added that "there were no serious incidents".

Polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. and closed at 8:00 p.m.

Local elections were also held in the Presheva Valley, where Albanian parties competed with six electoral lists, while in Bujanoc with four. The repeat elections in Belgrade were held simultaneously with local elections in other cities and municipalities, at the request of the opposition, although part of it said it would boycott the local elections.

No party managed to form a majority for the Belgrade City Assembly after elections held in December, which were heavily criticized by international observers, who said there were "irregularities" in the local and national elections.

Those concerns echoed accusations by the opposition that President Aleksandar Vucic's ruling SNS party and its allies had bussed voters specifically to Belgrade from other countries.

A change in Serbia's election law enabled the re-voting in Belgrade to be held simultaneously with local elections in the country's 88 other cities and municipalities.

However, some opposition groups warned of boycotting the vote again, because, according to them, conditions had not improved.

A working group composed of government and opposition representatives was formed at the end of April to address some of the recommendations of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) for improving the voting process.

ODIHR observers observed the June 2 local elections in Serbia.

The United Pro-European opposition campaigned heavily before elections in Belgrade in December, with the message that taking the capital would be the first step towards ousting Vucic and his allies, who have been in power since 2012.

Vu?i? has established diplomatic and commercial relations with Russia and China, as well as ignored calls from the European Union to impose sanctions against Russia, due to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022./ Rel