Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic has claimed a sweeping victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections amid accusations of vote rigging.
Official outcomes had been set to be introduced late Monday, however the president appeared sure of his Serbian Progressive Party’s (SNS) efficiency, simply hours after the polls closed.
“We will have an absolute majority in parliament with 127 seats,” Vucic instructed reporters throughout a press convention, saying round 76% of ballots had been counted.
Even although Vucic was not personally on the poll in Sunday’s parliamentary and native elections, the competition was largely seen as a referendum on his authorities.
“My job was to do everything in my power to secure an absolute majority in the parliament,” Vucic instructed reporters as he celebrated what he mentioned was the SNS’s victory.
The right-wing SNS regarded poised to broaden their presence within the 250-seat parliament with Sunday’s outcomes. During the final election in 2022, the occasion secured simply 120 seats, leading to a coalition authorities.
The SNS nonetheless confronted probably hard-fought municipal races within the capital Belgrade, notably from the unfastened coalition of opposition events and candidates working underneath the Serbia Against Violence banner.
That motion was shaped within the wake of back-to-back mass shootings earlier this 12 months. They spurred lots of of 1000’s to take to the streets in rallies that morphed into anti-government protests over a number of months.
The contest was not with out controversy, with the opposition complaining of foul play.
“We call on all political actors in Serbia and the international community not to remain silent in the face of this brutal robbery,” mentioned Djordje Miketic, a candidate linked with the Serbia Against Violence motion.
Earlier Sunday, opposition chief Radomir Lazovic additionally complained of quite a few “irregularities,” citing alleged “vote buying” and “falsification of signatures.”
“We may have had the dirtiest electoral process,” he added.
Posts on social media additionally fueled rumors that the federal government allowed unregistered voters from neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina to solid ballots illegally within the election.
Prime Minister Ana Brnabic dismissed the claims, accusing the reviews of spreading chaos.
‘Landslide’
Vucic had been beaming with confidence as voting received underway Sunday, predicting a landslide victory even then.
The opposition pinned its hopes on a excessive turnout.
“I hope that by the end of the day, we’ll have a big turnout …, and that the voters will have the freedom to express their will,” mentioned Dobrica Veselinovic, one of many leaders of the opposition Serbia Against Violence motion.
Vucic was omnipresent forward of the vote – plastered on billboards and skyscrapers and the main target of wall-to-wall protection on news channels.
By the time polls opened at 7 a.m. (6 a.m. GMT), traces had already shaped in Belgrade as folks waited to solid their ballots.
“I came early to support our president, he must continue his work,” mentioned Stojan Milenkovic, a 67-year-old retiree.
Others had been hoping the competition would deliver change to the nation’s political scene.
Along the southern border, lots of of ethnic Serbs from the previous breakaway province of Kosovo crossed into Serbia to solid their votes.
The voters loaded onto over a dozen buses and spent practically two hours crossing the border, following the failure of Belgrade and the Pristina authorities to iron out a deal that will have allowed the Serbs to vote inside Kosovo.
Muzzled media
Like many nations throughout the globe, Serbia has been battered by double-digit inflation.
To blunt the arduous edges of rising costs forward of the elections, Vucic unleashed a barrage of state spending together with pension will increase and money payouts to the aged.
He has additionally vowed to double common month-to-month salaries within the coming years.
Vucic has used his greater than a decade in workplace to consolidate management over the levers of energy, together with de facto management over the media.
He referred to as the snap elections in November, the most recent instance of how governments underneath his rule not often serve out their time period – a transfer critics say is designed to maintain the opposition off steadiness.
The contest comes lower than two years after the final spherical of presidential and parliamentary voting, which noticed Vucic and the SNS tighten their grip on energy.
Source: www.dailysabah.com