A Serbian opposition party formally lodged a complaint on Friday against alleged fraud by President Aleksandar Vucic’s ruling party during parliamentary and local elections last month.
Advertising
The move follows weeks of controversy that saw thousands take to the streets following accusations of official malfeasance during the elections.
“We are starting the legal battle today,” said Miodrag Gavrilovic, a Serbian MP and vice-president of the Democratic Party (DS), who is also a member of the “Serbia against violence” opposition coalition.
The coalition has been leading the public campaign denouncing alleged “irregularities” at the polls and calling for the annulment of the results that saw Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) score a landslide win in parliamentary elections and eke out a contested victory in municipal contests in Belgrade.
Definitive results announced Friday by the electoral commission largely confirmed the preliminary results announced early January.
Vucic’s SNS, which received 46.75 percent of the vote nationwide, won a narrow majority in the 250-seat national assembly with 129 seats, while the 12-party “Serbia against violence” bloc took 65 seats.
The SNS won 49 of the 110 seats in the Belgrade municipal council.
Gavrilovic said the criminal complaint contains 120 pieces of evidence related to around 600 addresses used by voters in Belgrade that were “non-residential property units”, which included car repair garages, electrical substations, and grocery shops.
“This is making a mockery of the law. This cannot exist in well-ordered states,” Gavrilovic told reporters.
International observers also reported irregularities during the polls – including “vote buying” and “ballot box stuffing” – while some Western nations voiced concern over the electoral process.
Earlier this month, Vucic rejected any outside probe, saying that elections are “a matter for (Serbian) state institutions”.
Since the elections, protesters have taken to the streets with the rallies culminating on December 24, when demonstrators tried to storm Belgrade’s city hall.
Police pushed the crowd back, while more than 30 demonstrators were detained.
(AFP)