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Hundreds of Serbs gather to protest election results

Opposition representatives say they will go on hunger strike until local elections for capital Belgrade annulled

Hundreds of Serbs gather to protest election results
2023-12-19 05:23:36

BELGRADE, Serbia 

Hundreds of residents of Serbia's capital gathered late Monday in front of the election commission to protest the results of snap general and local elections over the weekend. 

The protest rally in Belgrade was organized by one of the coalitions that competed in the polls, “Serbia against the violence.”

The crowd marched to the Republic Election Commission (RIK) to present what they said was proof of irregularities.

Miroslav Aleksic and Marinika Tepic from the coalition said they will go on a hunger strike until the results of local elections in Belgrade are annulled.

'We do not want to and must not recognize the Belgrade elections because, in violation of the law, they were abused by people from other countries,” said Tepic.

According to Tepic, they have enough evidence.

Even though the coalition is called 'Serbia against the violence,' protesters managed to break through security fences put up by the police and a few incidents between the crowd and police occurred.

According to the preliminary results for the Belgrade City Assembly, the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won 39.34% of the vote for 49 seats and the Serbia Against Violence coalition won 34.27% for 42 seats.

International observers said Monday that Serbia's snap general and local elections were marred by irregularities.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE ODIHR) election observation mission said “the decisive involvement of the President (Aleksandar Vucic) and the ruling party's systemic advantages undermined the election process overall.”

The German Foreign Ministry also reacted to the results of the elections.

'Serbia has voted, but OSCE ODIHR reports misuse of public resources, voter intimidation and cases of vote buying. This is unacceptable for a country with EU candidate status,' said the ministry on social media.

Vucic declared victory in the snap parliamentary and local elections held Sunday.

He announced that his Serbian Progressive Party, which appeared on the ballot under the name “Aleksandar Vucic — Serbia must not stop!,” won the majority of seats in the 250-seat parliament with 46.5% of the vote.

A total of 126 seats are needed for a majority in the assembly.