Serbia's populists claim victory in parliamentary election

Serbia’s ruling populists claimed sweeping victory on Sunday in the country's parliamentary election, which have been marred by reports of major irregularities both during a tense campaign and on voting day.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said that with half of the ballots counted, the Serbian Progressive Party's projections show that President Aleksandar Vucic won 47 percent of the vote and expects to hold around 130 seats in the 250-member assembly. The main opposition Serbia Against Violence group won around 23 percent, Brnabic said.

The main contest in the parliamentary and local elections was between Vucic’s governing Serbian Progressive Party, or SNS, and a centrist coalition that is trying to undermine the populists who have ruled the troubled Balkan state since 2012.

The Serbia Against Violence opposition coalition group of parties was expected to mount the biggest challenge for the city council in Belgrade. An opposition victory in the capital would seriously dent Vucic’s hardline rule in the country, analysts say.

“Changes in Serbia have started and there is no force that can stop that,” said Dragan Djilas, the opposition coalition leader, after he voted in Belgrade. "We, as the strongest opposition list, will defend people’s will by all democratic means.”

Vucic said that he expects “a convincing victory” in the vote and that his ruling party “will be close to an absolute majority” in the parliamentary election.

"This is a very important precondition for Serbia to continue on the path of prosperity and success,” he said after he cast his ballot.

Irregularities reported

Turnout one hour before the polls closed was around 55 percent, about the same during the last election in 2022 when Vucic scored a sweeping victory.

Irregularities were reported by election monitors and independent media during the vote on Sunday, including ethnic Serbs from neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina gathering for vote at a sports hall in Belgrade that isn't an official polling station and a monitoring team being attacked and their car being bashed with baseball bats in a town in northern Serbia.

Observers from the independent Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability expressed “the highest concern” over cases of the organised transfer of illegal voters on Sunday from other countries to Belgrade, the group said in a statement.

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

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

Several right-wing groups, including pro-Russia parties and Socialists allied with Vucic are also running for control of the 250-seat parliament and local councils in around 60 cities and towns, as well as regional authorities in the northern Vojvodina province.

The election doesn't include the presidency, but governing authorities backed by dominant pro-government media have run the campaign as a referendum on Vucic.