Near-final results show that President Aleksandar Vucic won 47% of the vote, despite the opposition claims of voter-bullying and bribes.
ADVERTISEMENTAn early official vote count appears to confirm Serbia’s governing populists’ claims of a sweeping victory in the Sunday election, despite the complaints of the opposition.
The party of President Aleksandar Vucic, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), won some 47% of the ballots in the parliamentary vote, followed by Serbia Against Violence with 23%, according to a near-complete preliminary tally by the state election commission. If confirmed, this result would land the party around 130 seats in the 250-member assembly, giving SNS an absolute majority and the ability to form a government on its own.
The main contest in the parliamentary and local elections was between President Aleksandar Vucic’s Serbian Progressives and a centrist coalition, who sought to undermine the populists ruling the troubled Balkan state since 2012.
The Serbia Against Violence opposition coalition was expected to mount its biggest challenge for the city council in Belgrade, with analysts saying an opposition victory in the capital would seriously dent Vucic’s hardline rule in the country.
Vucic, however, said his party was also leading in the vote in the capital, though he added post-election coalition negotiations would determine who governs in Belgrade.
“This is an absolute victory which makes me extremely happy,” a jubilant Vucic said at his party’s headquarters in Belgrade. “We know what we have achieved in the previous period and how tough a period lies ahead.”
The main opposition group disputed the election projections from the governing party, claiming there was vote-rigging and saying it would dispute the vote count “by all democratic means.”
While official results are yet to be announced in Belgrade, Serbia Against Violence, the country’s opposition alliance, said they were robbed of victory in the local election and will refuse to recognise the results in the capital. Instead, they will demand a rerun of the ballot.
Projections by IPSOS and CESID said that SNS won 38% of the ballots in Belgrade, while Serbia Against Violence won 35%. But the opposition group has claimed fraud, saying there were several irregularities both during the campaign and on election day.
Irregularities were also reported by independent media and election monitors. One claimed that ethnic Serbs from neighbouring Bosnia were brought to Belgrade en masse by bus to vote. Serbia Against Violence said that 40,000 identity documents were issued for people who do not live in the capital city.
One monitoring team said they were attacked with baseball bats in a town in northern Serbia.
“Problems that marked the election day on December 17 were particularly serious in Belgrade, primarily caused by the intent to influence citizens’ electoral will,” said the independent Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability group which monitors elections in Serbia.
Vucic and the SNS party have denied all the allegations. Acting Prime Minister Ana Brnabic called the accusations “lies that are intended to spread panic.”The opposition said it would call for a major protest in the streets of the capital later on Monday.
Turnout one hour before the polls closed was around 55%, about the same as during the last election in 2022 when Vucic scored a landslide victory.
Russian support for populists
Several right-wing groups, including pro-Russia parties, and Socialists allied with Vucic, ran candidates for parliament and local councils in around 60 cities and towns as well as regional authorities in the northern Vojvodina province.
The election didn’t include the presidency, but governing authorities backed by dominant pro-government media ran the campaign as a referendum on Vucic.
Although he wasn’t formally on the ballot, the Serbian president campaigned relentlessly for the SNS, which appeared on the ballot under the name “Aleksandar Vucic — Serbia must not stop!”
Serbia Against Violence, a pro-European Union bloc, includes parties that were behind months of street protests this year, triggered by two back-to-back mass shootings in May.
ADVERTISEMENTSerbia, a Balkan country that has maintained warm relations with Russia and President Vladimir Putin, has been a candidate for European Union membership since 2014.
Leaders have faced allegations of steadily eroding democratic freedoms and rules over the past years.
Analysts said Vucic is seeking to consolidate power after the two back-to-back shootings triggered months of anti-government protests, while high inflation and rampant corruption fuel public discontent.
Vucic has also faced criticism over his handling of a crisis in Kosovo, a former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008, a move that Belgrade doesn’t recognise.