Serbian demonstrators denouncing electoral fraud paralyzed several streets in Belgrade on Monday, particularly in front of the government. Belgrade's main ally, Moscow, has come forward and accused the West of wanting to “destabilize” Serbia.
Serbian demonstrators denouncing electoral fraud paralyzed several streets in Belgrade on Monday, December 25, particularly in full view of the government, while Moscow accused the West of wanting to “destabilize” Serbia.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic criticized the violence in the capital the night before, claiming he had evidence that it had been “fomented abroad”.
Belgrade's main ally Moscow has spoken out: “It is obvious that the West as a whole is trying to destabilize the situation in Serbia,” said Russian diplomatic spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency.
She compared these protests to those of the Maidan in Kiev, which led to pro-Westerners coming to power in Ukraine in early 2014.
“Attempts by third parties, including from abroad, to provoke such unrest in Belgrade are obvious,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated during his daily press conference.
In the December 17 election, Aleksandar Vučić's party (SNS, nationalist right) won more than half of the 250 seats in parliament.
But the main opposition coalition, Serbia Against Violence, condemned election fraud the next day and allowed Serb voters from neighboring Bosnia to vote illegally in the capital.
The European Union and Germany have criticized the situation. Berlin called the reported allegations “unacceptable” for a country hoping to join the European Union.
At the helm of his country, however, Aleksandar Vucic has been particularly adept at balancing relations between East and West, promising to keep Serbia on the path to EU membership while maintaining close ties with Russia and China as well Washington courted.
But since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Belgrade has never imposed sanctions against Russia, from where it imports gas in particular.
Like Belgrade, Moscow does not recognize the independence of Kosovo, a former Serbian province that declared a break with Serbia in 2008 following a NATO airstrike intended to end repression. Serbs against Kosovo Albanians.
Aleksandar Vucic's successes in his country were largely due to the economy, in one of the poorest countries on the European continent, where inflation reached 16% in the spring before falling to around 8% in November.
For his supporters, however, Vucic's years in power brought order – and billions in investments. Between 2012 and 2022, foreign direct investment in Serbia increased from 1 to 4.4 billion euros.
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“Otpor” (resistance)
In Belgrade, demonstrators, mainly students from the “Borba” (Struggle) organization, are demanding the revision of electoral lists, which they say are the cause of electoral fraud.
“I was born in 2002 and I never thought that I would have to fight for democracy on the streets like my parents,” said Emilija Milenkovi, a student at the Faculty of Political Science.
“But I have to do it,” added the 21-year-old, wearing a badge of the historic student movement Otpor (Resistance), which took part in protests against the power of Slobodan Milosevic in the 2000s.
This election drew widespread criticism after international observers, particularly from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), denounced a series of “irregularities,” including “vote buying” and “ballot stuffing.”
Since then, hundreds of people have demonstrated daily in front of the Serbian electoral commission and there have been international condemnations. Members of the main opposition list “Serbia Without Violence” went on hunger strike with the aim of overturning the results.
On Sunday, protesters challenging those results attacked Belgrade City Hall, smashing windows with stones before being pushed back by police.
President Vucic claimed that two police officers were “seriously injured” during that demonstration, in which at least 35 protesters were arrested.
Opposition lawmaker Radomir Lazovic, who was beaten by police during Sunday's incidents, told AFP there was “always the possibility of stopping everything if they admit fraud and cancel the elections.”
With AFP