Serbia’s ruling populists claim sweeping victory in election amid vote-rigging accusations

Serbia’s governing populists have claimed a sweeping victory in the country’s parliamentary election on December 17, which was marred by reports of major irregularities both during a tense campaign and on voting day.

Acting Prime Minister Ana Brnabić said that with half the ballots counted, the governing Serbian Progressive party’s projections showed it won 47 per cent of the vote and expected to hold about 130 seats in the 250-member assembly, according to The Guardian.

The main opposition Serbia Against Violence group won about 23 per cent, Brnabic said.

The main contest in the parliamentary and local elections was between current President Aleksandar Vučić’s Serbian Progressives and the centrist coalition that sought to undermine the populists who have ruled the Balkan state since 2012.

The Serbia Against Violence opposition coalition was expected to mount its biggest challenge for the city council in Belgrade, with analysts saying an opposition victory in the capital would seriously dent Vučić’s hardline rule in the country.

Vučić, however, said his party was also leading in the vote in the capital, though he added that post-election coalition negotiations would determine who governs in Belgrade.

“This is an absolute victory which makes me extremely happy,” a jubilant Vučić said at his party’s headquarters in Belgrade. “We know what we have achieved in the previous period and how tough a period lies ahead.”

The main opposition group disputed the election projections from the governing party, claiming there was vote-rigging and saying it would dispute the vote count “by all democratic means”.

“People who do not live in Belgrade were brought in buses, vans and cars to vote as if they were citizens of Belgrade,” opposition leader Miroslav Aleksić said, also alleging that 40,000 identity documents were issued for people who do not live in the capital.

“We will use all available democratic means against the vote rigging in Belgrade and Serbia,” he said. “What happened today cannot be something we can accept as the result of a democratic and fair election.”

Turnout one hour before the polls closed was about 55 per cent, about the same as during the last election in 2022 when Vučić scored a landslide victory. First official results are expected on December 18.

Irregularities were reported by election monitors and independent media. One report alleged ethnic Serbs from neighbouring Bosnia gathered to vote at a sports hall in Belgrade that wasn’t an official polling station. Another report said a monitoring team was attacked and their car was hit with baseball bats in a town in northern Serbia.

Observers from the independent Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA) expressed “the highest concern” over cases of the organised transfer of illegal voters from other countries to Belgrade.

“The concentration of buses, minivans and cars was observed on several spots in Belgrade, transferring voters to polling stations across the city to vote,” the group said.

CRTA also reported cases of voters being given money to vote for the governing party and the presence of unauthorised people at polling stations.

Authorities disputed that there was any wrongdoing. Brnabić, the premier, called the accusations “lies that are intended to spread panic”.

The election didn’t include the presidency, but governing authorities backed by dominant pro-government media ran the campaign as a referendum on Vučić.

Although he wasn’t formally on the ballot, the Serbian president campaigned relentlessly for the Serbian Progressive party (SNS), which appeared on the ballot under the name “Aleksandar Vucic – Serbia must not stop!”

Serbia Against Violence, a pro-European Union bloc, includes parties that were behind months of street protests this year triggered by two back-to-back mass shootings in May.

The Serbian president toured the country and attended his party’s rallies, promising new roads, hospitals, one-off cash bonuses and higher salaries and pensions. Vučić’s image was on billboards all over the country, though he had stepped down as SNS party leader.

Both Vučić and the SNS denied allegations of campaign abuse and attempted vote-rigging as well as charges that Vučić as president violated the constitution by campaigning for one party.

Vučić called the December 17 early vote only a year and a half after a previous parliamentary and presidential election, although his party holds a comfortable majority in parliament.