The result of the local elections held in Serbia on Sunday is in line with expectations, with surprises such as the victory of Niš by the opposition, Dragan Popović, director of the Center for Practical Politics, told "Vijesti".
"This is the first clear defeat of Vučić's (President of Serbia, Aleksandar) regime since 2012 and the first local self-government that is not under his control after many years. For an authoritarian regime, every crack is fatal, especially to lose a city of this size," Popović assessed.
He expects Vučić's government to make great efforts in the coming days to somehow prevent the formation of a new government in Niš.
"But the fact remains that they were defeated, and that is already a big deal for democracy in Serbia."
In the local elections held on Sunday in 90 cities and municipalities in Serbia, the list of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) has the most votes in Belgrade, Niš and Novi Sad, according to preliminary data.
SNS announced that this list won the majority of votes in almost all cities and municipalities. The opposition in Čačak and Niš has announced that it will be able to form a government, which the SNS also claims. For now, the most uncertain is in Niš.
The list gathered around the SNS and the opposition are equal in the number of mandates, so that one mandate of the Russian Party represented the balance in the balance of who will form the government in the city.
However, the first on the list of the Russian Party in Nis, Tihomir Perić, who appeared yesterday in the premises of the SNS City Committee in Nis at the celebration organized by that party on the occasion of, as they claim, the election victory, supported the SNS.
"I said that I could talk to everyone, and since they (SNS) are the strongest party... My decision was based on the future candidate for mayor (Dragoslav Pavlović), I know him and I did not see a better solution for the mayor," he said. Perić for N1.
Perić was once a prominent member of the Serbian Radical Party.
According to the results of the Niš City Election Commission (GIK), the list "Aleksandar Vučić - Niš Sutra" - 44,31 percent of votes and 30 mandates out of 61 in the city parliament.
The group of citizens "Dr. Dragan Milić" won 24,49 percent of the votes, that is, 16 council mandates, and the "Biramo Niš" coalition won 16,12 percent of the votes, that is, 10 mandates.
The "Go - change" movement will also have members in the Assembly of the city of Nis, since its list "I am Nis" won 3,93 percent of the votes and two mandates, the coalition "United - Hope for Nis" with 3,88 percent of the votes will also have two mandate, while the Russian party will have one councilor because, as a minority party, its entry into the parliament is secured by the 1,1 percent of votes won.
The candidate for mayor of the coalition "Biramo Niš" Đorđe Stanković said yesterday that the opposition knows that it won the elections in Niš and that SNS does not have 30 mandates. He said at the press conference that last night on 100 percent of the processed data, the result was that SNS has 29 councilors, and that yesterday that sample was changed.
"Nine new polling stations were entered and the statistics do not automatically correspond to what was yesterday," said Stanković. He added that it is "obvious" that SNS is ready to deceive citizens in Niš.
"We will do our best to solve everything by legal means. There is coordination of all four opposition lists and we will win by legal means", he pointed out.
"We will defend the victory in the streets"
Savo Manojlović from the Kreni-promeni movement said that the opposition won in Niš and New Belgrade and that the government is cheating on the election results, N1 reported.
"The authorities are trying to steal the victory of the citizens in Nis and New Belgrade. Kreni-premeni is ready to defend the will of the citizens. We will support the further steps of Dr. Milić and other opposition lists in Niš, among which is the Niš team Kreni-promeni. We are waiting for the place and time. And all for Nis. We report for New Belgrade," wrote Manojlović on the X network.
Vice President of the Democratic Party (DS) Srđan Milivojević said that the victory in Niš "will have to be defended on the streets".
"It seems that Aleksandar Vučić is calling on all of Serbia to defend the victory of the opposition in Niš. We will have to defend the victory of freedom on the streets of Niš," wrote Milivojević on the social network Iks.
The co-president of the Green-Left Front, Radomir Lazović, said that the representatives of that party are in Niš to fight together with the citizens to preserve the electoral will expressed in the local elections on Sunday.
"I call on all libertarian-minded residents of Nišlje not to give up, not to leave their city to the Serbian Progressive Party... and to really initiate changes from the south," Lazović told the Beta agency.
Dragan Popović said that Vučić's coalition in Belgrade won almost 40.000 votes less than in December 2023, which also indicates a trend of loss of trust, Popović added.
Commenting on the low turnout in Belgrade, he said that the opposition failed to convince a large number of people to go to the polls and that this is the reason why Vučić will rule despite this downward trend.
"A number of people listened to the calls of a part of the opposition to boycott, another part, I think much larger, did not vote because they were disappointed with the events in the opposition after the December elections, and the third part the representatives of the parties that went to the elections failed to convince that they were worthy of votes" .
The government has control over both public services
According to Popović, the responsibility lies with the alternative.
"As always, she has to work on herself, to be stronger, more organized and more credible year after year, and then people will come out and vote for her."
Regarding the opposition's accusations of election irregularities, Popović said that there were as always and that they definitely affect the outcome of the election. "At the same time, those that are most visible, such as problems with bringing voters from Bosnia and Herzegovina or other cities, have the least impact."
There is no other way to topple an authoritarian regime, except to convince a sufficient number of citizens that the alternative to the regime is better and therefore have someone to vote for, says Dragan Popović.
As the biggest irregularities, he points out unfair media representation, where the government has complete control over both public services (Serbia and Vojvodina) and all televisions with a national frequency.
"Then comes the enormous pressure exerted on everyone who depends on the state, from employees in public companies and state bodies (which is half of all employees in Serbia), to recipients of social assistance."
Popović believes that these irregularities will be there as long as the autocratic regime lasts, and that irregular conditions should be fought against, but that despite this, the government should first win the elections, as was the case in 2000.
"There is no other way to topple the authoritarian regime, except to convince a sufficient number of citizens that the alternative to the regime is better and therefore have someone to vote for," said Popović.
Local elections were well conducted and voters were offered various political alternatives, but the election process was negatively affected by widespread pressure on public sector employees, abuse of state resources and the media that favored the ruling coalition, the head of the Office's Observation Mission said yesterday in Belgrade. OSCE for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Lamberto Zanier.
Presenting the preliminary conclusions of the ODIHR Observation Mission on the local elections in Serbia, Zanijer also said at the press conference that the election day "generally passed smoothly, but that issues related to the secrecy of voting, numerous procedural problems, allegations of pressure and vote buying , as well as isolated cases of violence".
The list "Aleksandar Vučić - Belgrade Tomorrow" won 52,9 percent of the votes, that is, 64 councilor mandates in the Belgrade City Assembly, based on 100 percent of the processed sample, the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID) announced.
CESID stated on the X network that, according to preliminary results, the list "I am Belgrade - Savo Manojlović" won 17,4 percent of the vote (21 mandates), and the list "Biramo Beograd" won 12,2 percent (14 mandates). The list "We, strength of the people - Dr. Branimir Nestorović" with 8,1 percent of the vote (nine mandates) and the minority Russian party with 1,2 percent of the vote (two mandates) also passed the census.
The line: The Belgrade elections cannot be considered free and fair
The elections in Belgrade were repeated after months of protests that followed parliamentary and partial local elections on December 17, which the opposition and international observers said were marred by irregularities, including media bias and vote-buying.
About 20 percent of Serbia's 6,7 million inhabitants live in Belgrade, and the post of mayor is considered the fourth most important in the country, after the president, prime minister and head of parliament.
Opposition groups have split over whether to participate in the vote or continue their demands for free and fair elections, weakening their chances of success.
The program director of the observation mission of the organization Crta Raša Nedeljkov assessed yesterday that the elections for the Assembly of Belgrade "cannot be considered free and fair".
At a press conference in Belgrade, he presented the preliminary results of the election and assessed that the election day was "bad", Beta reported.
He stated that the elections for councilors of the City Assembly ended "disastrous in relation to the integrity and quality of the elections, the rule of law and the democratic capacity of society".
"Yesterday, about 200.00 fewer voters went to the polls than in December, and despite the convincing majority on the basis of which the Belgrade government will be formed, its legitimacy will be questioned because it resulted from an election process that was far below the standards for democratic elections," Nedeljkov said. .
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