The first official vote count confirmed this Monday, December 18, the victory of the ruling populist party SNS (nationalist right) in the parliamentary elections held in Serbia on Sunday. This country held elections for the national Parliament, the Assembly of the autonomous region of Vojvodina and municipal elections in 65 cities. In Belgrade, projections also show the SNS as the party with the most votes, but even before the results of the municipal elections were known, the opposition coalition (SPN) asked to repeat the vote after denouncing irregularities.
The early elections held on Sunday in Serbia took place under “unfair conditions”, with multiple complaints of irregularities, international observers said on Monday, while opponents of populist President Aleksandar Vučić took to the streets denouncing that the elections were rigged.
In Belgrade, several thousand people gathered outside the headquarters of the state electoral commission, chanting “thieves,” as opposition leaders moved to file formal complaints, alleging fraud in the municipal elections.
We have hundreds and hundreds of complaints,” said opposition politician Marinika Tepic. She and several other opposition politicians will camp inside the state electoral commission headquarters. “We'll stay here for a while”.
At one point, protesters broke a fence surrounding the building and a young woman attempted to storm the entrance. Protesters threw eggs, tomatoes and toilet paper rolls at the building..
A complicated election
Vučić's ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won the parliamentary vote, a first official count confirmed. However, in Belgrade's local elections, an opposition group said it had been stolen, would not recognize the results and would demand a rerun.
The Serbian president appeared on state television RTS to reaffirm that the elections had been fair” and that he wanted to “tell people not to worry (…) peace, law and order will prevail.”
In a preliminary statement, a mission made up of representatives of international observation organizations stated that the vote was “marred by harsh rhetoric, media bias, pressure on public sector employees and misuse of public resources.”
“Election day proceeded without incident, but was marked by numerous procedural deficiencies, such as the inconsistent application of safeguards during voting and counting, frequent cases of violations of the secrecy of the vote, and numerous cases of group voting,” according to the conclusions.
Allegations of electoral fraud
Vučić, in power since 2012, has rejected criticism from his opponents that his government curbed democratic freedoms and allowed corruption and organized crime to run rampant.
With Vučić, Serbia became a candidate to join the EUbut the opposition accuses the European bloc of turning a blind eye to the country's democratic shortcomings in exchange for stability in the Balkan region, still in turmoil after the wars of the 1990s.
The elections pitted Vučić's SNS against the opposition alliance Serbia Against Violence, or SPN.
Vučić's party won almost 47% of the votes in the parliamentary vote, followed by Serbia Against Violence with 23%, according to a nearly complete preliminary count by the state electoral commission.
Other smaller parties also participated in the elections, held just 18 months after the previous presidential and parliamentary elections.
If confirmed in the final vote count, The result means that the SNS party will have an absolute majority in the 250-member Parliament and will form the next government alone.
Official results for the Belgrade city council have not yet been announced, but projections from electoral agencies IPSOS and CESID indicate that the SNS won 38% of the ballots, while Serbia Against Violence garnered 35%.
Serbian election observers and independent media also reported irregularities.
Civil organizations point out theft and illegal votes
The local, independent Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability said the abuses were of such “scope and diversity” that “the results of the Belgrade elections do not reflect the freely expressed will of the voters who live” in that city.
“Irregularities that directly compromised the electoral results were recorded in 5% of the polling stations in the parliamentary elections and in 9% of the polling stations in the Belgrade elections,” the center stated.
One report claimed that Serbs from neighboring Bosnia had been bussed to vote in Belgrade. Serbia Against Violence reported that 40,000 identity documents were issued to people who do not live in the Serbian capital.
According to another report, a team of observers was attacked and their car attacked with baseball bats in a city in northern Serbia. Allegations have also emerged that voters have been paid or pressured to vote for the ruling party.
“We have provided evidence of blatant theft in Belgrade,” said opposition politician Marinika Tepic. She added that she was bringing in voters from abroad to “decide how the citizens of Belgrade will live.”
The international mission's report further “raised concerns about the ability of voters to make a decision free from undue pressure.” Pressure on voters and misuse of public office “tilted the playing field and blurred the line between state and party,” observers added.
According to the joint conclusions of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament, Among the most serious irregularities are vote buying and ballot box stuffing.
The authorities, backed by the mainstream pro-government media, presented the election campaign as a referendum on Vučić.
Serbia Against Violence, a pro-European Union bloc, includes parties that were behind months of street protests this year, sparked by two consecutive mass shootings in May.
With AP
#Serbia #Vučić #claims #triumph #nationalist #allegations #fraud #Belgrade