The first preliminary results of the elections in Serbia: Convincing victory of Vučić’s SNS, two surprises of the election

The first preliminary results of yesterday’s parliamentary and local elections in 65 municipalities and cities in Serbia show that there is little hope and little progress towards political change in this country.

According to CeSID and IPSOS, only 0.2% of citizens – the number won by the “Serbia in the West” list on the basis of 72.6% of the processed votes – sincerely want Serbia in the EU and NATO.

Ana Brnabić, the Serbian Prime Minister in a technical mandate and Trustee of the Belgrade SNS Committee, started her address, almost an hour late from the announced time, with the words “welcome to the celebrations” and instead of immediately announcing the first preliminary results, she devoted her opening presentation to the “fake news” that marked the election day.

She thanked the institutions “which showed the seriousness of the country and reacted in accordance with the rules”.

“Not to mention what we, as the SNS party and the ‘Serbia Against Violence’ list, have been facing during the election silence.

Such brutality of electoral silence has never been recorded before,” said Brnabić.

She boasted that the list “Srbija ne sme da stane” on a sample of 50 percent of the votes counted has 47.1 percent of the votes, which she accompanied with applause.

“I want to thank our people from the bottom of my heart,” said Brnabić.

Interestingly, during Brnabić’s speech, the Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nenad Nesic, was present alongside officials from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). Given that Nesic is a minister in BiH, his photo in the SNS team is certainly objectionable from one point of view.

He announced yesterday that he had voted in the Serbian elections, but did not say in which city he had voted.

A large number of vehicles and buses from the Republic of Serbia arrived outside the Belgrade Arena during the day yesterday, reported N1, whose camera filmed a number of people.

Inside the Arena, N1 reported, there were electoral lists, and after the duty officers found the citizens who had been brought in in an organised manner, they were directed where to vote, i.e. at which polling station.

Although it is too early to draw any conclusions until the final results are announced, and despite the fact that some parties have already declared victory, there is one piece of information that can be considered a surprise in these elections.

Branimir Nestorovic, a pulmonologist and allergist, and now a politician of the “MI – Voice of the Nation” party, with 4.8% of the vote, has provided the biggest surprise of the Serbian parliamentary elections.

“Nobody gave us a chance. And we entered the circle of the four, five strongest parties in the country. “By the end of the campaign, ten days before the end of the campaign, we had spent 12,000 euros”, Nestorović said when the preliminary results were announced.

“We have no coalition potential and 99 per cent will not go to any coalition,” he added.

Nestorović has surpassed all poll predictions and appears to have “taken” the majority of votes from the Socialist Party of Serbia and Zavetnici and Dveri.

Nestorović is the bearer of a “new wave” in the way political communication is done in Serbia, as he has achieved popularity on certain YouTube channels, has not engaged in traditional campaigning and has managed to achieve a significant result.

His political messages are anti-systemic, he talks about conspiracy theories, that all people with blue eyes are actually from another planet, his statements are anti-Western, so it seems that the nationally oriented voters have recognised him as their representative.

Although he announced before the election that they would be “the biggest surprise of the elections”, Vuk Jeremić, former head of Serbian diplomacy and leader of the People’s Party, seems to have been surprised by the fact that his party, which is strongly opposed to the Franco-German plan for Kosovo, did not even pass the censorship threshold after the preliminary results.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, in his address, among others, in the company of Milorad Dodik, President, the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH Security Minister Nenad Nesic and the Speaker of the Montenegrin Parliament, Andrija Mandic, declared that the “Srbija ne sme da stane” list had undoubtedly won the most votes in Belgrade.

Regarding the republican elections, the Serbian President said that the SNS had won more than 127 seats.

“We won an absolute majority in Parliament. We have not found a single place in Serbia where the SNS list received fewer votes than in the previous elections”, Vucic said.

In Belgrade, according to Vucic, the SNS won 38.5%, the SPN 35%, NADA in third place with 6%, the SPS 5.4% and Nestorović 5.1%.

The mayor, I think, will be Aleksandar Šapić, the Serbian president said.

He added that this still depends on two factors.

“From Nestorovic, if he went with the SPS and SNS – it would be 59 percent, but if he went to the other side – it would be around 57 percent,” Vucic said.

Since her party, the Zavetnici and the Dveri of Bosko Obradovic, did not cross the three percent threshold with certainty, Milica Đurđrević Stamenkovski said that this coalition “Nacionalno okupljanje” found itself between two very polarised blocs, the ruling SNS and the pro-EU opposition, which is why they were denied presence in the media.

Milica Đurđević Stamenkovski stated that the “Nacionalno okupljanje” retained its parliamentary status in the republican elections with 3.8% after the polls were processed.

They say they are not happy with this result, but that it is the result of a campaign against their coalition.

The opposition list “Serbia Against Violence”, which won 23% or 63 seats on the basis of 65.1% of the sample, did not speak in public or address the media until 11 pm last night./The Geopost/