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Vucic rejects calls for an international investigation into election irregularities

2024-01-02 17:23:24, Kosova & Bota CNA

Vucic rejects calls for an international investigation into election

Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vucic, has rejected calls for an international investigation into alleged irregularities in recent parliamentary and local elections that sparked protests organized by the opposition, which is calling for the elections to be annulled.

Demonstrators have been protesting in the streets of Belgrade and other cities in Serbia since the December 17 elections, which, according to preliminary results, have been won by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of Vucic.

The opposition coalition "Serbia against violence", which came second in the parliamentary elections, has accused the SNS of extensive electoral fraud, charges which the authorities deny.

An international mission that monitored the election said after the vote that the SNS had gained an unfair advantage through biased media, through Vu?i?'s influence, and had also noted voting irregularities such as vote buying.

The Serbian authorities have denied all these accusations.

Rejecting any outside investigation, Vucic said on January 2 that elections in Serbia "are a matter for [Serbian] state institutions."

Vucic suggested that the "Serbia against violence" coalition, which has led the protests, opposes the election results, especially the local elections in Belgrade, because according to him, this party did not do as well in the elections as it expected.

In the parliamentary elections, the coalition "Serbia against violence" came in second place with 23.56 percent of the votes, followed by the Socialist Party of Serbia with 6.56 percent.

The final results are expected to be published this month.

Thousands of people protested in Belgrade on December 30, 2023, in what was described as the largest election-related protest to date, as protesters chanted "Hajna".

That protest was organized by the independent citizen initiative, ProGlas, which before the elections campaigned for higher turnout.

On December 17, Serbia held parliamentary, local and provincial elections. The opposition has called for an international investigation after representatives of several foreign organizations monitoring the process reported irregularities, including ballot box stuffing and vote buying.

Local election monitors have also said that voters from all over Serbia and neighboring countries were registered in Belgrade to vote in the local elections./ REL