According to the first counts, the president has 72%, his main opponent, Zdravko Ponos, only 8%.
Serbs voted for a new president and a new parliament on Sunday. The clear favorite for the state’s top job was current president Aleksandar Vucic, who is aiming for a second term – and the predictions were correct: Partial results saw Vucic and his Serbian Progress Party (SNS) clearly in the lead on Sunday night. Specifically, according to the first counts, the president had 72 percent, his main opponent, Zdravko Ponos, of the opposition alliance “United for the Victory of Serbia”, was behind with a good eight percent.
In early parliamentary elections, after accounting for three percent of the votes cast, the SNS leads with 52 percent of the votes, followed by the government partner, the Socialist Party, with a good eleven percent of the votes. The main opposition coalition, “United for the Victory of Serbia”, had just over six percent.
According to the State Election Commission, turnout was around 60 percent. However, due to long lines at some polling stations, especially in Belgrade, voting was extended until after 21:00.
The nationalist Vucic has been in charge of politics in Serbia since 2012. The parliament, dominated by its SNS, was only elected in 2020. Vucic had the new snap election to guarantee the supremacy of the SNS, merging it with the presidential election. He would like to lead his country in the EU, but so far has also tried to maintain good relations with Russia – most recently, despite the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Travel to Serbia to vote
For the first time, ethnic Kosovo Serbs were not allowed to participate in Serbian elections at their place of residence, but had to travel to Serbia to vote. The reason for this was that no agreement was reached between Belgrade and Pristina on a voting procedure in Kosovar territory. Numerous buses and private cars with Kosovar Serbs drove to Serbia without incident on Sunday for the vote, monitored by Kosovar police, reported Serbian-language Kosova news portal “kossev.info”. Western diplomats also watched what was happening at the border.
Until now, Kosovo’s ethnic Serbs have been allowed to vote in Serbian elections in their homeland – thanks to the mediation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). This time there was no such procedure. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has demanded that the Belgrade government contact the Pristina government directly on this matter. However, the Serbian government has rejected this because it sees this step as an indirect recognition of Kosovo as a state.
Kosovo, which is predominantly inhabited by Albanians, seceded from Serbia in 1999 after a NATO intervention and declared its independence in 2008. To date, Serbia has not recognized this and continues to claim state territory recognized by Germany and most other EU countries.
(APA/dpa/Red.)