Vucic's ruling Serbian Progressive Party won the parliamentary vote, however, in the Belgrade local election, an opposition group said it was robbed, and demanded a rerun of the ballot.
Category
đ
NewsTranscript
00:00 Several thousand Serbian opposition supporters have been protesting outside the Electoral
00:06 Commission building in Belgrade after political tensions rose following reports of irregularities
00:12 in the country's weekend elections. An early official vote count confirmed victory in the
00:17 parliamentary elections for the ruling Populist Party of President Aleksandar Vucic. But international
00:23 election observers say the snap election was held in unjust conditions with multiple reports
00:28 of irregularities. Opponents of President Vucic are claiming the vote was rigged.
00:35 The populists have been in power in Serbia since 2012, despite this being the third election
00:42 in three years. Observers say there is a chronic lack of pluralism in the country.
00:49 In the run up to elections, yes, there are some systemic issues and they have to do with
01:18 the level playing field. They have to do with the state of the medias in the country, the
01:24 freedom and independence of media and this must be improved. Part of it had to do with
01:29 the fact that the institutions of democracy, the parliament, have for a number of years
01:34 been dominated by the ruling party. In part also because the opposition decided to boycott
01:40 these institutions in the past. Some coalition Serbia Against Violence members have submitted
01:46 their evidence of vote rigging and are planning a hunger strike until the results of the Belgrade
01:50 city hall elections are cancelled.
01:52 (whooshing)