Protesters shouted “open the door” and “thieves” while throwing eggs and rocks at the building, agencies reported. When some tried to break into the building and broke windows at the entrance, police first barricaded themselves in the building and used tear gas from there. They later managed to push the crowd back into the city center. Several people were arrested during the riots.
President Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) scored victories in the first parliamentary and local elections in many cities, including Belgrade. In the capital, however, success on December 17th was narrow. According to the opposition, this also only happened through massive fraud.
APA/AFP/Oliver Bunic The target of Sunday's protests was Belgrade City Hall
An international monitoring mission and the media reported numerous irregularities, including cases of violence, vote buying and ballot box stuffing with fraudulent votes. Furthermore, buses reportedly took people from the Serbian part of Bosnia-Herzegovina to the Belgrade Arena, where they voted without being eligible to vote.
Vucic: “This is not a revolution”
Vucic is unimpressed by allegations like these. On Thursday, faced with accusations about the electoral process coming from abroad, he also denounced foreign “interference” in the Serbian electoral process.
From Vucic's perspective, the recent unrest was also instigated abroad. According to AP reports, during a speech before the Belgrade City Council, Vucic also described the protesters as “thugs” who would not be able to destabilize the state. “This is not a revolution,” the news agency quoted the Serbian president as saying.
Public Ministry: Police must examine information
On Saturday, the Public Ministry asked the police to investigate signs of possible irregularities. The Belgrade Prosecutor General's Office said today that the information gathered by police should then be used to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to launch an investigation.
The authority recently announced in Belgrade that it had been notified of several violations of electoral regulations, including activities at the Belgrade Arena. The attorney general's office included a video in its Saturday statement that appears to show two women discussing vote buying.
“Large extent” of irregularities
The responsible electoral commission announced on Wednesday that voting would be repeated at 30 polling stations on December 30th. No result could have been determined at these polling stations. The opposition coalition “Serbia Against Violence” called in advance for a repeat of the elections in Belgrade.
There were irregularities across the country in Sunday's elections, but in the capital they reached an “impressive size”, Srdjan Milivojevic, candidate of the Democratic Party, commented on the N1 television channel on Wednesday.
AP/Darko Vojinovic Protests against the election took place in Belgrade on Sunday for the seventh day in a row
Criticism of Vucic's ubiquity
From the perspective of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Vucic's omnipresence also cast a shadow over the elections. Even if he was not running in the elections, everything revolved around him, said election observer and ÖVP deputy Reinhold Lopatka the day after the election. This led to “unfair conditions”.
A “complete polarization” of Serbian society was also pointed out. Election observer and EU MEP Andreas Schieder (SPÖ) described the reports of fraud as “disturbing” – calling for an independent investigation.
Newcomer as Possible Kingmaker
Although Vucic's SNS has also become the biggest force in Belgrade, according to preliminary results, it may lack partners to determine the next mayor in the municipal assembly. The kingmaker in Belgrade could now be the list of right-wing populist Branimir Nestorovic, who surprisingly reached the state parliament with 5% of the vote.
However, Nestorovic has so far ruled out the possibility of forming a coalition with one of the two party alliances. The career change achieved its surprising success with a minimum campaign budget of around 12,000 euros, mainly through its social media presence.
“Serbia is certainly no longer a democracy”
“Serbia is certainly no longer a democracy. The elections showed that they were not free and fair,” said Southeast Europe expert Vedran Dzihic from the Austrian Institute for International Policy (oiip) in an interview with ORF III. There was no free and fair electoral contest: “The opposition cannot score points there”.
The election also gave the Serbian president time to deal with the EU and its efforts to clarify the Kosovo issue, Dzihic said. Vucic is unlikely to deviate from his previous course: no recognition of Kosovo, balance between the West on the one hand and Russia and China on the other. Especially on the Kosovo issue, Dzihic expected a stalemate and possible new tensions in the ORF interview. The EU has no opportunity to influence both sides.