Berliner Tageblatt - Election monitor slams Serbian vote after ruling party hails win

The accusations by the monitors, which included representatives from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), came just hours after President Aleksandar Vucic said his party had secured a commanding victory during parliamentary and local elections.

"Election day was smooth but marred by isolated instances of violence, procedural irregularities and frequent allegations of organising and busing of voters to support the ruling party in local elections," the International Election Observation Mission said in a statement.

"Further instances of serious irregularities, including vote-buying and ballot box stuffing, were observed," it added.

Vucic and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) looked poised to tighten their grip on power after claiming to have captured 127 of the 250 seats in parliament after the voting on Sunday.

But opposition groups have cast doubts over the validity of the contest following accusations that the government allowed unregistered voters from neighbouring Bosnia to cast ballots illegally in the capital Belgrade.

Thousands demonstrated in front of the Serbia election commission building in downtown Belgrade on Monday night, following calls by the opposition camp to protest the results.

Demonstrators held banners that read: "They stole our future" as others chanted "Vucic go away".

"It was a robbery. I'm disgusted," protestor Ana Mirkovic, 37, told AFP.

The government had earlier dismissed any foul play, with Prime Minister Ana Brnabic saying the allegations were designed to spread chaos.

The United States stopped short of commenting on allegations of election irregularities, saying Washington welcomed "the opportunity to continue working with Serbia's next government to strengthen democratic governance and rule of law", according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

- 'Absolute majority' -

Even though Vucic was not personally on the ballot for the parliamentary and local elections, the contest was largely seen as a referendum on his government.

"My job was to do everything in my power to secure an absolute majority in the parliament," Vucic told reporters as he celebrated what he said was the SNS's victory late Sunday.

To his supporters, Vucic's decade in power has brought stability and billions in investments to the once-chaotic country ravaged by a string of wars in the former Yugoslavia and bouts of hyperinflation in the 1990s.

"I want Serbia to continue on the same path. It seems that this path is the most reasonable for the greatest number of people, whether rich or poor," Svetlana Nikolic, a 70-year-old Vucic supporter in Belgrade, told AFP.

But Vucic's opponents have accused the president and the SNS of overseeing a government defined by autocracy and corruption during their decade in power.

Vucic has been particularly deft at balancing ties between east and west, vowing to keep Serbia on a course for European Union membership while also remaining friendly with Russia and courting Beijing and Washington.

On Monday, Moscow congratulated Vucic and the SNS on their victory, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying he hoped the win would lead to the "further strengthening of friendship" between the countries.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also praised Vucic, hailing an "overwhelming election victory".

- Anti-government protests -

The SNS also said it secured a victory in municipal elections in the capital Belgrade, where the party faced their stiffest challenge from a loose coalition of opposition parties and candidates running under the Serbia Against Violence banner.

Following the weekend's election, the movement vowed to take to the streets again, calling for supporters to rally on Monday against what the group called "electoral theft" during the local elections in the capital.

The coalition has alleged that over 40,000 people voted in Belgrade who were not formally registered as residents, saying the government allowed unregistered voters from neighbouring Bosnia to cast ballots illegally.

Sunday's vote came weeks after Vucic called for snap elections in November, the latest example of how governments under his rule rarely serve out their term -- a move critics say is designed to keep the opposition off balance.

The contest comes less than two years after the last round of presidential and parliamentary voting, which saw Vucic and the SNS extend their rule.

K.Thomson--BTB