In Serbia, polling stations closed at 8 p.m., where voting took place from 7 a.m. today for the early parliamentary elections, for the renewal of the local parliament in the autonomous province of Vojvodina (north) and for the administrative elections in 65 municipalities, including the capital Belgrade. In polling stations where there are still voters, those present are allowed to cast their vote.
No exit polls are expected and the first partial data is expected between 9 and 9:30 p.m. The latest voter turnout data as of 7 p.m. indicated a turnout of over 55% of those eligible to take part.
The Electoral Commission has rejected the opposition's complaints about alleged serious irregularities found in early parliamentary elections today. Some opposition forces had reported, among other things, the arrival of several buses full of non-residents ready to vote in Belgrade. Others spoke of pressure on voters and alleged bribes to the ruling SNS party for the vote.
According to the Commission, as always there were some inconveniences and several cases of minor irregularities which did not jeopardize the validity of the vote. Among other things, late opening of some polling stations, signatures in the wrong place on election certificates after voting, failure to spray the thumb for fingerprinting, power outages in some polling stations (interpreted as a pretext for vote fraud), voting without document control. Prime Minister Ana Brnabic also dismissed what she called the opposition's tensions. After the polling stations closed, the opposition's complaints about voting irregularities increased. The most serious allegations concern the alleged arrival in Belgrade of several buses and private cars from Bosnia-Herzegovina carrying Bosnian Serb citizens from Republika Srpska, the Serb-majority part of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
According to the allegations, these vehicles reached the square in front of the Stark Arena in the residential area of Novi Beograd and from there accompanied the passengers – without residence in Belgrade, but presumably with dual Bosnian and Serbian citizenship – to vote illegally at some polling stations in the capital. Other complaints reported attacks on opposition voters outside certain polling stations.
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