/ world today news/ Despite the increased interest of the Collective West in the elections in Serbia, the intervention of the embassies and the unification of the pro-Western opposition in a coalition, they failed to achieve the desired result.
The ruling Serbian Progressive Party, which ran under the name “Aleksander Vucic – Serbia Must Not Stop”, won the parliamentary elections confidently, improving on the previous result.
The “Progressives” independently won a majority in parliament and do not need an alliance with other parties. The main rival, the united pro-Western opposition calling itself Serbia Against Violence, got half as many votes.
Observers
The current election has attracted enormous attention in the West. The EU is extremely concerned about the political situation in Serbia, given that Brussels and Washington have failed to force Belgrade to recognize the self-proclaimed “Kosovo” and introduce anti-Russian sanctions.
The EU and the US also do not like the fact that Belgrade balances between East and West and does not blindly follow the political wishes of the West. The rush is also due to the upcoming 2024 US presidential elections and European Parliament elections.
Therefore, the current early elections in Serbia were an ideal opportunity to openly defeat the pro-Western forces. But it did not work.
The EU sent an eight-member European Parliament delegation to Serbia, led by Clemen Gröschel, who previously opposed early parliamentary elections and who met with representatives of the Serbian opposition, openly supporting the ProGlas movement.
The US ambassador to Serbia, Christopher Hill, was also distinguished, who, together with other members of the embassy, visited the polling stations as an observer to ensure the transparency of the elections. The OSCE was also not left out, sending a record 75 observers to the Parliamentary Assembly in Serbia.
In the end, however, all observers were forced to admit that there were no critical violations, although all were unhappy with the results of the vote.
Results and seats in parliament
Counting of votes is proceeding slowly, given the heavy pressure from both Serbian and international observers, as well as a public that is more divided than ever into hostile camps.
A day earlier, the chairman of the election commission, Vladimir Dimitrievich, announced the data obtained after processing the results of 96.68% of the polling stations.
According to the processed ballots, the ballot “Alexander Vucic – Serbia must not stop” received 46.71% of the votes. Pro-Western opposition coalition “Serbia Against Violence” – 23.58%.
List of the Socialist Party of Serbia “Ivica Dacic – Prime Minister of Serbia” – 6.56%; “NADA” coalition – 5.04%; the “We are the Voice of the People” party created on the eve of the elections – 4.69%, “National Association – Dveri/Zavetnitsi” – 2.78%. Other parties receive less than 2% of the vote.
The approximate layout in Skupshchyna, which has 250 seats, will look like this:
– “Aleksander Vucic – Serbia must not stop” – approximately 128 places;
— “Serbia against violence” – about 60 places;
– “Ivica Dacic – Prime Minister of Serbia” – less than 20 seats;
— “NADA” coalition and “We are the voice of the people” party – over 10 mandates each.
Thus, the presidential Serbian Progressive Party (SPS) gets a majority in the parliament and can independently form a government.
Surprises and disappointments
Despite all internal and external attempts to influence the outcome of the election, the results of the first three places were predictable. Currently, no party can compete with the SPS.
The pro-Western opposition “Serbia Against Violence” expectedly “took silver”, although it scored less than expected.
The “Bronze” goes to the Socialists of current Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, who was unhappy with the outcome of the election, which could lead to a change of party leader. Even judging by the name of his list, Dacic was banking on the position of prime minister, saying publicly that “the best option for Serbia is for him to be prime minister and Vucic to be president.”
The landslide victory of the SPS, however, removes Dacic’s bid for the prime ministership from the agenda, and for the first time in many years he risks being in opposition, despite the fact that his SPS is extremely loyal to the SPS.
The main failure of the election was the pro-Russian (in words) opposition. Dveri and Zavetniki are considered pro-Russian and oppose the Franco-German plan for Kosovo and Metohija, which implies de facto recognition of the Albanian state there. Against the background of these party proposals
In 2022, thanks to their uncompromising position, they managed to enter the parliament. However, they failed to consolidate their success in the current early elections.
The main factor was the split among the opposition. “Dveri” and “Zavetnitsi” negotiated for a long time with the “NADA” coalition, which without a problem overcame the required 3% to enter the National Assembly. Covenant leaders opposed the unification, which ultimately affected the bottom line.
The main discovery of the elections was the party of professor and doctor Branimir Nestorovic “We are the voice of the people”. The party was founded a few months ago, but managed to confidently make its way into parliament.
Interestingly, the party’s budget for the election campaign was small – about 20,000 euros. However, Nestorovic and his team skillfully used social media and podcasts to their advantage. The party leader became widely known for his criticism of strict quarantine measures during the pandemic.
It is noteworthy that of all the parties, even those that did not reach the parliament, “We are the voice of the people” had the least amount of time on television.
According to Nestorovich, they were deliberately not invited to political talk shows. Still, for a party that is participating in elections for the first time, this is an excellent result.
The Battle for Belgrade
In addition to parliamentary elections, early local elections were also held in Serbia.
The main struggle is taking place in the capital. Currently, neither the SPS nor the SNC have a majority. The We Are the Voice of the People party may decide the fate of Belgrade, but Branimir Nestorovic has confirmed that his party will not cooperate with either the current government or the opposition. Instead of immediate success, the party decided to “play for the long haul” and did not want to disappoint its voters.
The same cannot be said for Serbia Against Violence.
Realizing that the situation in Belgrade could not be resolved through negotiations, the pro-Western opposition decided to play its traditional trump card, declaring that the elections were rigged and should be held again.
The leaders of Serbia Against Violence, Miroslav Aleksic and Marinka Tepic, have even announced a hunger strike until new elections are called in Belgrade. Their associate Sarjan Milivojevic even demanded the holding of new parliamentary elections.
“Serbia Against Violence” did not live up to its name as their supporters began to gather in an unauthorized rally near the Central Election Commission building, starting to destroy the city.
The appearance of the Maidan is still under control, but the “pacifists”, given the unfavorable result of the elections, will bet on a “color revolution”, which, by the way, is not supported by 90% of the Serbian population.
Translation: SM
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