Serbia’s opposition takes to the streets claiming election fraud

BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbia’s weekend snap election was held in “unjust conditions,” with multiple reports of irregularities, international observers said on Monday, as opponents of populist President Aleksandar Vucic took to the streets claiming the vote was rigged.

Political tensions spiked in the Balkan country over the parliamentary and local elections on Sunday. In Belgrade, several thousand people gathered in front of the state election commission headquarters, chanting “thieves,” as opposition leaders moved to lodge formal complaints claiming fraud in the city election.

“We have hundreds and hundreds of complaints,” said opposition politician Marinika Tepic. She and several other opposition politicians will camp inside the building that’s the seat of the state election commission. “We will stay here for a while.”

At one point, protesters broke through a fence surrounding the building. Protesters threw eggs, tomatoes and rolls of toilet paper at the building.

Vucic’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party won the parliamentary vote, an early official count confirmed. However, in the Belgrade local election, an opposition group said it was robbed, would not recognize the results and would demand a rerun of the ballot.

The Serbian president appeared on state RTS television on Monday evening, stating that the “election was fair” and that he wanted “to tell the people not to worry … peace, law and order will prevail.”

In a statement, a mission made up of representatives of international rights watchdogs said the vote was “marred by harsh rhetoric, bias in the media, pressure on public sector employees and misuse of public resources.”

“Election day was smoothly conducted but was marked by numerous procedural deficiencies, including inconsistent application of safeguards during voting and counting, frequent instances of overcrowding, breaches in secrecy of the vote, and numerous instances of group voting,” the conclusions said.