EU to investigate election irregularities

The coalition "Serbia against violence" (SPN) wrote to the European institutions asking them not to recognize the results of the parliamentary, provincial, and especially local elections in Serbia, until a full international investigation into electoral irregularities is completed.

That coalition stated in the letter that it would not accept the election results, adding that the key international and domestic observation missions, the International Election Observation Mission and the Crta Observation Mission, "concluded unequivocally that the elections in Serbia were not free and fair."

The coalition also asked the "representatives of European democracies" to launch a full international investigation into electoral irregularities under the auspices of the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the European Commission, with a special emphasis on the elections for the Belgrade City Assembly, with a deadline of February 15 for the submission of an independent report. .

SPN also requested the establishment of an International Verification Committee under the auspices of the European Parliament, with the participation of all four main political groups (EPP, S&D, RE and Green/EFA) and four leading electoral lists in Serbia (SNS, SPN, SPS and NADA).

That committee, they added, would be formed on a parity basis of "four plus four" members, with an independent chairman, who will monitor and verify the implementation of each recommendation of the international investigation, as well as the OSCE/ODIHR and domestic observation missions, and determine whether they have been fulfilled. conditions for new elections.

Mediation and implementation of all recommendations, the letter adds, should be completed three months before the election date, and the new elections for the Belgrade City Assembly must coincide with the upcoming regular local elections, Beta reported.

Representatives of the SPN electoral list stated that they were encouraged by the initial response of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the statements of the European Commission, other EU members, the Minister for Europe of Great Britain, the US State Department, as well as the statement of the majority of the members of the European Parliament's observation mission.

"In all but one, they point to one conclusion - that the elections were fraudulent on a large scale and fraught with gross irregularities. We appeal to the wider European public, European democratic political institutions and you as their representatives that the citizens of Serbia deserve to live in a free and democratic society and that they are ready to fight for it," the letter added.

It was assessed that the European Union must urgently stop the appeasement of the authorities in Serbia and start using available political means against members of the ruling party "involved in election fraud" and thus help the citizens of Serbia in restoring the rule of law and democracy in Serbia.

"If the European Union misses this opportunity to provide support at this critical moment to the citizens of Serbia who demand democracy and basic European values, every perspective of a democratic and European Serbia as a future member of the EU will be dealt a huge blow," the letter states.

The letter, as reported by N1, was addressed to the presidents of the European Parliament, the European Council, the European Commission, the members of the EP, the presidents of the committees for foreign affairs of the parliaments of the EU member states, the EU high representative for foreign policy and security, the college of commissioners and representatives of the member states.

The letter was signed by the leaders of the Democratic Party Zoran Lutovac, the Ecological Uprising Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta, the Freedom and Justice Party Dragan Đilas, the Green-Left Front Biljana Đorđević and Radomir Lazović, the Movement of Free Citizens Pavle Grbović, the People's Movement of Serbia Miroslav Aleksić, Serbia Center Zdravko Ponoš and the parties "Together" Nebojša Zelenović and Biljana Stojković.

If the EU misses the opportunity at this critical moment to provide support to the citizens of Serbia who demand democracy and basic European values, every perspective of a democratic and European Serbia as a future member of the EU will be dealt a huge blow.

The international organization Transparency International assessed that the state authorities in Serbia should, without further delay, determine whether the ruling party misused public institutions and resources and whether it organized vote buying in order to win the elections.

As stated in the statement transmitted by the Serbian branch of that organization, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (AKS) should urgently react to suspicions of irregularities, "for which evidence was published both before and on the day of the election, since they are so far failed to do".

Representatives of the SPN opposition bloc, Miroslav Aleksić and Marinika Tepić, announced last night that there will be no withdrawal from the request to annul the election.

They spoke to journalists in front of the headquarters of the Republic Election Commission (REC) in Belgrade, where the fourth protest was held last night due to allegations of election theft, Beta reported.

Tepić, who is starving, announced that she will be joined by MPs Jelena Milošević from Niš and Danijela Grujić from Novi Sad.

"We are not giving up the fight for votes and against fake elections," she said, and again accused the ruling SNS and President Vučić of being responsible for it.

She also announced that, in the coming period, "more colleagues" will join the strike as a sign of support and added "not that we will not withdraw, but that we will intensify the fight even more".

Vučić: Germany interfered in the most brutal way

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, said yesterday that the state authorities will react to the "interference of an important country" in the election process in Serbia, which he stated was done "in the most brutal way so far".

When asked by journalists what Germany is trying to do in Serbia, given the "aggressive rhetoric" of German MEPs and allegations that Berlin is putting pressure on other EU members to request a repeat of the Belgrade elections, Vučić said that the Serbian state authorities are "drafting an important letter about the influence and the interference of an important country" in the electoral process in Serbia.

"I believe that it will be finished in ten days, by the New Year, and then before Orthodox Christmas we will be able to send it to the whole world so that they can see how this kind of interference is carried out in processes that should belong sovereignly to an independent country," he said. Vučić during a tour of the completed works on the viaduct in Vrbas.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany announced on December 18 that the misuse of public resources, voter intimidation and vote buying, which international observers observed in Serbia, are unacceptable for a country with the status of a candidate for EU membership.

Vučić also said that the elections held on Sunday were the cleanest and fairest so far and that he has never received congratulations from abroad.

He told the opposition to get serious and prepare for important local elections in the spring.

"I respect every vote, almost 900 thousand votes of the former regime, but also 1,8 million votes that we received. The electoral will of the people will be respected," said Vučić.

He assessed that the opposition is behaving like a child playing and asking for Belgrade elections, then all elections again.

Vučić added that he received the nicest congratulation from French President Emmanuel Macron, but also that, since the elections are not presidential, European officials are waiting for the end of the entire electoral process.