Thousands of supporters of the opposition coalition “Serbia Against Violence” (SPN) demonstrated in Belgrade this Sunday to demand a repeat of the December 17 parliamentary elections due to allegations of vote manipulation.
The seventh protest in front of the headquarters of the Electoral Commission (RIK) over alleged electoral fraud in favor of Serbian populist President Aleksandar Vucic's ruling SNS party was the largest so far.
The demonstrators smashed the windows of the main entrance to the town hall
Those gathered in Belgrade shouted slogans such as “thieves” and “we do not give victory”. The situation came to a head when, after the first march, opposition leaders went to the nearby town hall to break in and address the citizens from there as “election winners”.
According to live images from the regional news channel N1, the demonstrators broke the windows of the main entrance to the town hall, which housed a riot police unit that fired tear gas outside. “Open the doors,” they shouted at the city hall guards, while others hurled insults at Vucic.
Demonstration this Sunday in Belgrade
Portal
A week ago, Serbia held elections to the National Parliament, the Assembly of the Vojvodina Region and local elections in 65 cities, including Belgrade, where the SNP expected victory and believed that it had been “stolen” through manipulation. The SPN, the largest opposition party, does not recognize the election results and is calling for them to be annulled.
In recent days they have been organizing protests to “defend the votes” while several SPN fighters are on hunger strike in front of the RIK headquarters. According to official results, the SNS won the parliamentary elections with 47% of the vote, twice as much as the opposition coalition SPN.
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In the local elections in Belgrade, the SNS won by a narrow margin and the formation of a local government remains uncertain due to the lack of a clear majority, so Vucic left open the possibility of new elections in the capital.
The authorities reject the opposition's allegations of manipulation and assured that the institutions would investigate the complaints. Vucic today accused the SPN leaders of “brutal pressure on the institutions” with the aim of “changing the electoral will”.
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