In the early parliamentary elections in Serbia, there were irregularities, including vote buying, and in the campaign that preceded them, serious problems were observed, such as biased reporting in the media and the dominance of the president of the state and the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), representatives of international organizations said yesterday in Belgrade. observation missions.
The heads of missions stated at a joint press conference that they had noticed unequal treatment of political parties in the media and unequal conditions, with the dominance of the ruling party, which had a "systemic advantage".
The "Serbia must not stop" list gathered around the SNS in the parliamentary elections won 46,72 percent of the votes, according to the preliminary results of the Republic Election Commission (REC) based on processed 95,7 polling stations. The opposition bloc "Serbia Against Violence" is in second place with 23,52 percent of votes, and the Socialist Party of Serbia is third with 6,57 percent. The NADA coalition, consisting of the New Democratic Party of Serbia and the Movement for the Reconstruction of the Kingdom of Serbia, received 5,03 percent of the votes, and the list "Mi glas iz naroda - Branimir Nestorović" received 4,49 percent of the vote. The "National Gathering" coalition, which consists of the Dveri movement, the Zavetnici party and public figures, won 2,78 percent.
The coalition "Serbia against violence" claims that there were major violations of the election process, including pressure on voters and vote buying, which is why they requested the annulment of the elections in Belgrade. Its representatives said that more than 40.000 people without legal residence in that city were brought to the capital to vote for the "Serbia must not stop" list.
Representatives of international missions, which had a total of 357 observers, stated that fundamental freedoms were generally respected, but that there was harsh rhetoric, media bias, pressure on public sector employees and abuse of public resources.
The head of the observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Albert Johnson, said that the elections were technically well organized and that voters were offered a choice of political alternatives, but that the head of state was "too present in the media" and that "together with the ruling party created unfair conditions for the participants in the election".
"The campaign was dominated by President Aleksandar Vučić, there was aggressive and incendiary rhetoric, polarization, personal discrediting. Freedom of expression and assembly was generally respected during the campaign, but the pressures on the public sector and the gathering of votes in the public sector meant that a free choice could not be made," Jonson said.
He stated that the "great influence of the government on almost all media" was observed and that the opposition pointed out that it did not have access to many media, especially before the elections, adding that "they received several reports that journalists with a critical attitude are often the target of attacks by politicians and pro-government media".
Jonson said that the election day "went mostly well", but that there were irregularities related to the existence of deceased persons in the voter lists and the arrival of voters from other countries to vote.
Asked if the observed irregularities were serious enough to invalidate the vote, Jonson said that "they are not in a position to talk about the effects of such a practice."
"We are not in a position to talk about canceling the vote, that is not part of our mandate. But we talked about these things in our recommendations, they relate to the effective management of the electoral process. We remain in contact with the Serbian authorities and will follow up on everything related to those recommendations," Jonson said.
Representatives of the "Serbia Against Violence" list and the gathered citizens of Belgrade requested a repeat of the elections in Belgrade last night, claiming that the electoral theft on Sunday was "obvious".
The Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID) and the Ipsos agency announced that according to the preliminary results of the Belgrade elections, based on 99 percent of the processed sample, the newspaper "Aleksandar Vučić - Srbija ne sme da stane" won 38,9 percent of the votes, and the newspaper " Serbia against violence" 34,6 percent. The NADA coalition also passed the census with six percent of the vote, "Mi - Voice of the People" with 5,3 percent and "Ivica Dacic - Prime Minister of Serbia" with 4,8 percent of the vote.
Before the election, analysts predicted that the most uncertain battle would be fought for Belgrade, where the chances of the government and the opposition were fairly equal.
Tepić and Aleksić announced a hunger strike
At the invitation of the "Serbia against violence" coalition, citizens who believe that the elections in Belgrade were stolen, gathered last night in front of the headquarters of the Republic Election Commission to "defend the electoral will".
MP and one of the holders of the "Serbia against violence" list, Marinika Tepić, spoke from the RIK building and reiterated that she will not recognize the election results.
"We entered the RIK as MPs because we cannot recognize the Belgrade elections, we have hundreds of objections, there were many voters from neighboring countries, the police minister of another country voted in the elections for Belgrade. We have hundreds of remarks, objections are being written, Miroslav Aleksić and I are staying here for a long time and we are starting a hunger strike," Tepic said, as reported by N1.
As heard on the recording, MP Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta said that the two would not be alone and that others would join them.
Beta Agency reported that at one point, several eggs flew at the National Assembly building, where the RIK is headquartered. Representatives of the list "Serbia against violence" reacted immediately and asked citizens to stop throwing eggs through megaphones. N1 reported that in front of the RIK there was also a skirmish and an attempt to remove the fence.
The gathered citizens shouted "Thieves, thieves" and "Treason, betrayal", and carried banners with the messages "I want my gas", "Belgrade stolen from Kurta and Murta" and by whistling whistles expressed their dissatisfaction with the events of the elections.
The Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, wrote on the X network that the opposition is creating chaos and harassing the RIK without reason.
"The series of ingenious moves and clear plans of Đilas's opposition continues. The latest: they will invade the RIK with the desire and intention to stay there! Why, how - it doesn't matter, the important thing is that they create chaos and harass someone. So, everything regularly, as always and as we clearly said at the beginning of the campaign," the Prime Minister wrote.
Undermining citizens' trust in democratic institutions
The head of the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Stefan Šenah, said that the organization has several times expressed concern about the "culture of early elections and the instrumentalization of election cycles", stating that it "undermines the trust of public opinion in democratic institutions and the electoral process, which is a component setbacks in democracy".
"We are concerned about the frequent and extraordinary elections that prevent democratic institutions from functioning properly and producing results," Senah said.
He stated that one of the concerns was "the key role in the campaign of the president of the state who was not a candidate".
"He was treated in a commendable, biased way in the media, which gave his party an advantage. This seriously undermines fair conditions in the election competition, because the president should be a neutral figure who reflects national unity," said Šenah.
He said that biased reporting in the media, unfair election conditions and alleged manipulation of votes are "very serious problems that the institutions must address".
The head of the European Parliament delegation, Klemen Grošelj, said that they noticed "worrying elements" in the campaign, such as "low level of political debate, pressure on voters, personal discrediting of opponents and harsh rhetoric", including against journalists and representatives of civil society.
Grošelj said that the observers received several reports about the mass registration of voters from outside Serbia, who voted in Belgrade, and added that they call on the authorities to investigate it thoroughly and to implement the recommendations they presented.
If Nestorović doesn't support anyone, you will have repeated elections, I'm just afraid that some misjudge the results, Vučić said last night
The head of the delegation of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Fara Karimi, said that the holding of the third parliamentary elections in less than four years "undermined public trust in democratic institutions".
"During the elections, we noticed a number of irregularities, including non-compliance with the procedure for keeping materials, group voting, violation of the secrecy of the vote. We have seen serious irregularities such as vote buying," said Karimi.
She said that they expressed concern regarding the preservation of freedom of speech and the attitude towards human rights fighters and journalists who, she stated, faced threats and warnings.
Vučić proud of his role
President Vučić told citizens last night that they should not worry about the "irresponsible behavior of individuals" and that "peace, order and laws will reign in Serbia just as the elections yesterday were fair".
He said on RTS that a hunt had begun for people with dual citizenship who voted in Serbia, and that the number of voters was "minor".
Vučić said that his list won in Belgrade, and that the results are always questioned by those who lose.
"I said 15 days ago that the SNS was leading in Belgrade, because some of them ran the wrong policy and campaign. Five months ago, they had a five percent advantage, we did daily research and saw that it changed, we won, and who will to form the government, we don't know," said Vučić.
He added that the list "Serbia must not stop" with the SPS has 54 seats in the Belgrade Assembly, and that one is missing for the Pata ticket, and that Dr. Branimir Nestorović said that he will not support anyone.
"If Nestorović doesn't support anyone, you will have repeated elections, I'm just afraid that some misjudge the results," said Vučić.
He asserted that the story about 40.000 "brought people" was a lie, and that only those who had the right to vote could vote.
Vučić stated that he was proud of his role in the campaign that he led from the position of the President of Serbia, that the campaign was clean and that "they were just talking about who robbed whom".
Bonus video:
