Europe

Serbian elections marred by ‘uneven playing field’, say international observers

Vote buying, media bias and involvement of president among shortcomings cited by monitoring mission

Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia's president, during celebrations at the headquarters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) following Sunday's general election in Serbia. Photograph: Oliver Bunic/Bloomberg

Mon Dec 18 2023 - 17:06

An international monitoring mission has said Serbia’s snap elections were marred by “unjust competition” by the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), the presence of president Aleksandar Vucic in the campaign, media bias and vote buying.

The populist SNS won 46.72 per cent of the votes, according to state election commission preliminary results, based on the count from 96 per cent of the polling stations.

The centre-left opposition alliance Serbia Against Violence came second with 23.56 per cent of the votes and the Socialist Party of Serbia third with 6.56 per cent.

“The decisive involvement of the president dominated the electoral process, and the use of his name by one of the candidate lists, together with bias in the media, contributed to an uneven playing field,” Reinhold Lopatka, the leader of the short-term OSCE observer mission, told a news conference.

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Observers also said they have registered the misuse of public resources, a lack of separation between official functions and campaign activities, and intimidation and pressure on voters, including cases of vote buying.

The opposition SPN alliance late on Sunday complained over what it described as major violations of election procedure, including voters migration, bribing and rigging of election results. It demanded repetition of local votes for the Belgrade city parliament.

According to CeSID and Ipsos pollsters, the SNS won 38.9 per cent in local elections in Belgrade, while the SPN secured 34.6 per cent backing. The nationalist NADA coalition came third with 6 per cent.

The SPN alliance also called its supporters to protest in the centre of the city later on Monday and lodged numerous complaints to the city election commission.

With its population of 1.4 million people, Belgrade represents about a quarter of Serbia’s electorate, and its mayor is seen as one of the country’s most influential officials.

“We call on the competent authorities to investigate properly,” Klemen Groselj, the head of delegation from the European Parliament said, referring to the entire election process.

Observers also pointed out numerous reports of journalists who were verbally insulted by state officials, as well as co-ordinated attacks on journalists through pro-government media.

The international election observation mission to Serbia totalled 361 observers from 45 countries, including 254 experts of the Warsaw-based OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. - Reuters

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The observers also urged Serbian authorities to address all the shortcomings.

“Any efforts to tilt the playing field is a cause of concern and could potentially impact the [vote] outcome,” Farah Karimi of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly told reporters.

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