Serbia to rerun elections in Belgrade amid allegations of fraud

Serbian authorities have announced that they will repeat elections and hold a new round of voting in the capital, Belgrade, amid allegations of fraud in the first voting last December.

After a meeting with the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), acting mayor Aleksandar Sapic announced a new vote in Belgrade, DW reports.

At the same time, he denied that this was due to allegations of fraud or the fact that the SNS failed to win a majority of seats in the capital’s city council, describing the decision as raising the “bar (of legitimacy).”

“We made a decision that does not work in our favor, but we are not afraid,” Sapic said.

Serbia’s new parliament begins work, and the opposition takes the oath in the hall in protest.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic asked SNS to hold repeat elections in the capital.

The opposition alliance, Serbia Against Violence (SPN), welcomed the decision.  Dobrica Veselinovic, a representative of the Green-Left Front, which is part of the SPN, called it a “victory” for the entire opposition and those who “filmed and photographed the fraud” during the December vote.

He said the opposition will now strive to improve the way they conduct the vote.

The conservative NADA coalition also welcomed the repeat election, hoping that it would be a way to resolve the political and institutional crisis in the country.

Earlier, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said that the December elections in the country were legitimate, rejecting the call of the opposition, the international community, and the European Parliament to conduct an international investigation.

On February 8, the European Parliament adopted a resolution declaring that the elections in Serbia on December 17, 2023, did not take place in a fair environment. They called for an independent investigation into the violations.

The official results of the early elections in Serbia showed that President Aleksandar Vucic’s party won a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections and won a narrow majority in the municipal elections in Belgrade.

The opposition, united in the “Serbia Against Violence” bloc, demanded an investigation into the violations and urged for repeat elections in the capital, Belgrade, where they uncovered numerous frauds.

The December vote sparked a wave of demonstrations against the fraud in the elections.