Election day in one city and two municipalities in eastern, western and northeastern Serbia was marked by high turnout, dozens of incidents and numerous complaints from observers about irregularities at and near polling stations.
Throughout election day, observers pointed to a series of irregularities and incidents in these three locations, such as allegations of vote buying, ballot photoshopping, keeping parallel voter lists, and attacks on observation missions.
A clash occurred in Mionica in which Green-Left Front (ZLF) MP Bogdan Radovanović was injured, the movement announced.
Footage of a physical altercation in a restaurant in the village of Rajković in the municipality of Mionica was also shared on social media.
Bottles and chairs flew from the restaurant onto the crowd gathered in front of the restaurant, who, according to witnesses, had come to protest against the attack on Radovanović.
The bar allegedly housed an informal election headquarters for the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), N1 television reported.
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Police detained several people who were at the restaurant, local media reported.
The election commission in Mionica claims that election observers came to that municipality to "scare ignorant people."
Crta observers withdrew from all polling stations in Mionica due to an attack to which the police did not react, program director Raša Nedeljkov announced to the Fonet agency.
In Negotin, they noted "parallel voter records, and in a large number of places, the secrecy of voting was being threatened."
There was also a minor conflict, when a group of men on four-wheelers allegedly took the mobile phone of a photojournalist on the street.
Observers from Novi Sad, who came to Mionica as representatives of the Futog Citizens' Association, claim that 40 tires on 12 cars were slashed the night before the election.
"In this way, they tried to carry out sabotage and prevent us from reaching the polling stations," observer Boro Pilić told N1 television.
In Sečanj, the bus station is allegedly being used as a place where parallel voter lists are kept, the television station reported.
The Kreni-promeni organization reported alleged voting without providing personal identification documents at several polling stations, as well as the taking of photographs of ballots.
In Sečanj, 64,4 percent of voters exercised their right to vote by 18 p.m., and in Mionica, 74,1 percent, announced the election commissions in these municipalities.
In Negotin, a city in Eastern Serbia, 52,6 percent of registered voters had voted by 18 p.m.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić assessed that the elections in all three places "are essentially proceeding peacefully for the most part for now," although he was "informed about two incidents in Negotin."
"Turnout is higher in all three municipalities than it was four years ago," he said.
The people of Negotin and Mionić are voting in regular elections, while early elections were called in Sečanj after the resignation of the mayor of the municipality, Nebojša Meljevac, from the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
The local elections in Negotin, Mionica and Sečanj are the second vote in the country since students began months-long blockades of faculties and protests across Serbia, after residents of Zaječar and Kosjerić went to the polls in June.
In all three places, the Progressives and coalitions gathered around this party have been in power for more than a decade.
In Mionica, one of the six electoral lists is "For a more beautiful face of Mionica - students united for Mionica" - the first one actively led by members of the student movement.
More than 10.000 voters are registered on the voter list in Mionica, the same number as in Sečanj, where five electoral lists competed.
The Mionica Municipal Assembly has 39 council seats, and Sečanj has 23.
In Negotin, more than 35.000 people had the right to vote, but the smallest number of lists - four - competed for the 45 seats in the local assembly.
Line: Observer safety seriously compromised
Observers from the organization Crta noted irregularities in a third of the polling stations in Mionica within the first few hours of voting.
Crta also published a video of a group of men in dark clothing with hoods, who they say are "cruising around the place", which they also recorded during the June elections in Kosjerić.
The organization decided to withdraw all observers from the field in Mionica, because their safety was "seriously threatened" due to an alleged attack by a group of men on the CRTA mobile team.
"They blocked the passage and tried to break the windows of the car in which the two girls were, in full view of the police who did not react - neither did they protect the bystanders, nor did they even identify the perpetrators," they claim.
They also released a video showing men standing next to a car containing observers and allegedly not allowing them to leave the vehicle, and claim that the local prosecutor's office has initiated proceedings over this incident.
"Crta's legal teams will remain available for reporting irregularities," Nedeljkov said.
A case of vote buying was also reported in the municipality of Sečanj, to which the police did not react.
In Mionica, observers also recorded voters who were not from that municipality.
The elections in Mionica are being monitored by 14 observation organizations and a total of more than 900 observers, announced Marijana Cvijetić, deputy president of the Municipal Election Commission.
This is "abuse of the institute of observers" and a denial of their role, because at some polling stations there are as many as 20 observers, which makes their work impossible, believes Nedeljkov.
"We don't want to cause panic, but we have to say that the atmosphere is not normal," he said.
In Mionica, almost a quarter of polling stations were not prepared in accordance with prescribed procedures, he added.
Irregularities were also recorded during the election campaign.
The organization Transparency Serbia pointed to the official campaign in Negotin, Mionica and Sečanj, places that high-ranking public officials visited much more often during this period than between two election cycles.
Dozens of high-ranking state officials and ministers actively participated in the campaign, including Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, whose name was included in the title of all three Progressive Party lists.
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