Vucic wins presidential and parliamentary elections in Serbia

Aleksandar Vucic, the current president of Serbia, won another presidential mandate with about 58.5 percent of the votes in the presidential elections held on Sunday, according to the final projections published by CeSid. Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party won about 43% of the votes in the parliamentary elections, and a slightly better result was achieved in the elections for the city of Belgrade, Vucic announced at the SNS headquarters on Sunday night. The opposition claims to have won in the capital.

Having won the first round of elections, Aleksandar Vucic boasted that he was “proud of the fact that he managed to do what no one in the political history of Serbia has succeeded in doing.” I am the only one who won twice in the first round, and that it wasn’t even tight result, and that significantly more support was received in the second term. I received as many as 2,245,000 votes in the first round “, Vucic pointed out and emphasized that Slobodan Milosevic did not have such a result at the time.

He also said that after Nikola Pasic (Prime Minister in the Kingdom of Serbia) he will be the Serb who has been in power in Serbia for the longest time, and said: “a safe hand leads you through history”.

“I am not someone who is proud of the government, but I am grateful to our people, especially in Kosovo and Metohija, where I received more than 90 percent of the votes, and to our people in Republika Srpska, where I received almost 90 percent of the votes,” Vucic said.

Vucic thanked the citizens of Serbia, and said that he was infinitely proud and happy, “even though he is trying to hide tears of joy.”

First of all, I want to thank my Serbian Progressive Party, which I love endlessly, for which I know how it was attacked in the worst ways, and I want to thank the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and the Union of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM) and all those who supported me”, said Vucic and made a deep bow, as an actor on the stage.

He also pointed out that he won more than 40 percent of the votes in relation to the second-placed candidate.

According to CeSID data, Aleksandar Vucic won an absolute majority in the presidential elections with 58.5 percent of the vote, and he won on the first round of elections.

The only one who won a double-digit percentage of votes is Zdravko Ponos with 18.3 percent, Milos Jovanovic won 6 percent of the vote, and 4.4 percent of voters voted for Bosko Obradovic and Milica Djurdjevic Stamenkovski.

According to CeSID projections, Biljana Stojkovic won 3.3 percent of the votes, Branka Stamenkovic 2.1 percent, and Misa Vacic 0.9 percent.

In the parliamentary elections, in favor of SNS 43 percent

According to the final unofficial results published by IPSOS / CeSid, the list “Aleksandar Vucic – Together we can do everything” won the most votes in the parliamentary elections in Serbia, for which 42.9 percent of voters voted. In second place are “United for the Victory of Serbia” with 13.5 percent, and in third place is the SPS with 11.4 percent. According to those results, the “Nada” coalition passed the census with 5.4 percent, the coalition ‘Moramo’ with 4.6 percent, “Dveri” with 3.9 percent and “Zavetnici” with 3.8 percent.

When it comes to the elections for the city of Belgrade, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, addressing the headquarters of the Serbian Progressive Party, stated that the SNS achieved a better result in the Belgrade elections than in the parliamentary elections, while the opposition says it has a majority in Belgrade.

“When I say opposition, I mean the coalition ‘United for the Victory of Belgrade’, the coalition ‘Moramo’ and the coalition ‘Nada’,” said the head of the city election headquarters of the “United for the Victory of Belgrade” Branislav Kuzmanovic from the Democratic Party last night.

According to CeSid data, the coalition “Together we can do everything” won 120 seats in the next convocation of the Assembly, while the list of the coalition “United for Victory for Serbia” is the second largest with 38 parliamentary seats.

Representatives of the “Ivica Dacic – Prime Minister of Serbia” list will have 32 seats in parliament, and the assembly will include 15 deputies from the NADA coalition, 12 deputies from the MORAMO coalition list, while Zavetnici and the Dveri and POKS coalition will have 10 deputies each.

According to CeSID data, the census of minority lists has passed, the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, which will have six deputies, the Mufti’s bequest with three deputies, Together for Vojvodina with two mandates, as well as the SDA Sandzak and the Coalition of Albanians of the Valley, which will represent in the next Assembly one MP each.

Both the opposition and the coalition around the Serbian Progressive Party have announced that there is a possibility of forming a majority in the Belgrade city parliament.

Votes are still being counted in Belgrade. In some polling stations, voting took place until 10 pm, which is two hours after the official deadline for closing the polls. The reason why some polling stations stayed open longer is the crowds.

For the first time since 2000, the Republic Election Commission decided not to announce the preliminary election results at press conferences.

Monitoring missions of non-governmental organizations and the opposition announced during the day that irregularities were noticed at the polling stations. The CRTA observation mission has filed seven criminal charges with the police.

For Vucic in Montenegro as well

Apart from the Serbian Embassy in Podgorica and the Consulate in Herceg Novi, Serbian citizens living in Montenegro voted at three other polling stations, in Budva, Berane and Sutomore.

Turnout by cities: Podgorica 191 (67 percent), Berane 194 (81 percent), Budva 141 (71 percent), Sutomore 254 (93 percent), Herceg Novi 147 (83 percent)

Record turnout was recorded in Sutomore: 93 percent, and Aleksandar Vucic won 233 votes, or 91.73 percent.

The SNS won the most votes at all polling stations in Montenegro.

Kosovo Serbs voted in central Serbia

Serbs from Kosovo voted yesterday in the presidential and parliamentary elections in the nearest municipalities in Serbia, as the Kosovo authorities did not allow the voting to take place in areas with a majority Serb population.

Bus transportation was organized for about 100,000 voters from Kosovo, and some traveled in their cars. According to Belgrade media, some voters had to travel up to 150 kilometers to vote. Voting for Serbs from Kosovo was organized in Raska, Tutin, Ribaric, Kursumlija and Vranje.

There were queues at the polls due to limited technical possibilities in the newly created conditions, due to the impossibility of voting in Kosovo

Official Pristina did not allow the opening of polling stations in Serb areas in Kosovo because, as previously announced, no agreement was reached between the two governments. The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, insisted that official Belgrade send a direct request to the Government of Kosovo to hold elections, which Serbia assessed as pressure for the recognition of Kosovo and refused to do so.

Elections for the President of the Republic, the new convocation of the National Assembly, the city government of Belgrade and Bor, and in 12 other municipalities were held in Serbia on Sunday, April 3.

Putin congratulated Vucic

On Monday, April 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on winning the presidential election again.

Putin said that he hoped that Vucic would build their “strategic partnership”, the Kremlin said, AFP reports. “I expect that your work as head of state will continue to contribute to the strengthening of the strategic partnership that exists between our countries,” Putin said in a telegram to Vucic, according to a Kremlin statement.

Osmani regrets the results of the elections in Serbia

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, expressed regret that there was no change of government in Serbia after the parliamentary and presidential elections.

At a press conference in Pristina on April 4, Osmani said that the Serbian leadership continues with propaganda against Kosovo institutions. Speaking about the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, the President of Kosovo also said that the Brussels Agreement envisages the abolition of Serbian parallel institutions, but that this has not been realized yet.