Serbia’s populists claim a sweeping victory in the country’s parliamentary election

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — President Aleksandar Vucic is looking to further tighten his grip on power in Serbia in an election on Sunday that has been marred by reports of major irregularities both during a tense campaign and on voting day.

The main contest in the parliamentary and local elections was expected to be between Vucic’s governing Serbian Progressive Party, or SNS, and a centrist coalition that is trying to undermine the populists who have ruled the troubled Balkan state since 2012.

The Serbia Against Violence opposition coalition group of parties was expected to mount the biggest challenge for the city council in Belgrade. An opposition victory in the capital would seriously dent Vucic’s hardline rule in the country, analysts say.

“Changes in Serbia have started and there is no force that can stop that,” said Dragan Djilas, the opposition coalition leader, after he voted in Belgrade. “We, as the strongest opposition list, will defend people’s will by all democratic means.”

Vucic said that he expects “a convincing victory” in the vote and that his ruling party “will be close to an absolute majority” in the parliamentary election.

“This is a very important precondition for Serbia to continue on the path of prosperity and success,” he said after he cast his ballot.

Turnout one hour before the polls closed was around 55%, about the same during the last election in 2022 when Vucic scored a sweeping victory.

Irregularities were reported by election monitors and independent media during the vote on Sunday, including Serbs from neighboring Bosnia gathering for vote at a sports hall in Belgrade that isn’t an official polling station and a monitoring team being attacked and their car being bashed with baseball bats in a town in northern Serbia.

Observers from the independent Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability expressed “the highest concern” over cases of the organized transfer of illegal voters on Sunday from other countries to Belgrade, the group said in a statement.

“The concentration of buses, minivans and cars was observed on several spots in Belgrade, transferring voters to polling stations across the city to vote,” CRTA said, while authorities rejected any wrongdoing.

CRTA also reported cases of voters being given money to vote for the ruling party, and the presence of unauthorized people at polling stations.

Several right-wing groups, including pro-Russia parties and Socialists allied with Vucic are also running for control of the 250-seat parliament and local councils in around 60 cities and towns, as well as regional authorities in the northern Vojvodina province.

The election doesn’t include the presidency, but governing authorities backed by dominant pro-government media have run the campaign as a referendum on Vucic.

Although he isn’t formally on the ballot, the Serbian president has campaigned relentlessly for the SNS, which appears on the ballot under the name “Aleksandar Vucic — Serbia must not stop!” The main opposition 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.

The Serbian president has been touring the country and attending his party’s rallies, promising new roads, hospitals and one-off cash bonuses. Vucic’s image is seen on billboards all over the country, though he has stepped down as SNS party leader.

Even before the vote started on Sunday, campaign monitors reported pressure on voters, fearmongering and abuse of public office and institutions fostered by the authorities. There have also been reports of vote-buying and voter-bribing.

Serbia, a Balkan country that has maintained warm relations with Russia and President Vladimir Putin, has been a candidate for EU membership since 2014, but has faced allegations of steadily eroding democratic freedoms and rules over the past years.

Both Vucic and the SNS have denied allegations of campaign abuse and attempted vote-rigging, as well as charges that Vucic as president is violating the constitution by campaigning for one party.

Hardly any of the complaints or recommendations by local and foreign observers have resulted in changes in the voting process.

Vucic called the Dec. 17 early vote only a year and a half after a previous parliamentary and presidential election, although his party holds a comfortable majority in the parliament.

Analysts say Vucic is seeking to consolidate power after two back-to-back shootings triggered months of anti-government protests, and as high inflation and rampant corruption fueled 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 recognize.

His supporters view Vucic as the only leader who can maintain stability and lead the country into a better future.

“I think it’s time that Serbia goes forward with full steam,” retiree Lazar Mitrovic said after he voted. “That means that it should focus on its youth, on young people, education and of course discipline.”

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Jovana Gec contributed to this report.

Dusan Stojanovic, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Serbia’s populists claim a sweeping victory in the country’s parliamentary election

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