Local elections in Serbia, reported irregularities

2024-06-02 21:26:36, Kosova & Bota CNA

Serbia held local elections in Belgrade and 88 other cities and municipalities on June 2, where irregularities were reported in parts, but mostly peaceful voting conditions.

Local elections were also held in the Presheva Valley, where Albanian parties competed with six electoral lists, while in Bujanoc with four.

Serbian authorities reported no serious incidents during the day, although opposition leaders complained that the ruling party, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), set up "call centers" to influence the vote.

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

Ana Bërnabiç, 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.

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 from the opposition that President Aleksander Vucic's ruling SNS party and its allies had bussed voters specifically to Belgrade from other countries.

A change in the election law in Serbia enabled the re-voting in Belgrade to be held simultaneously with local elections in Novi Sad, Nis and other cities and municipalities in the country.

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.

In Belgrade, citizens voted to elect 110 members of the City Assembly for a four-year term, who then vote for the appointment of the mayor.

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.

Vucic 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