Serbian opposition protests, gov't denies electoral theft

Several thousand supporters of opposition parties protested on Saturday against alleged theft of votes at the April 24 snap parliamentary elections by the coalition around the winning Progressive party, which categorically refuted these claims.

"We will not allow tampering with the election will of the people," said Bosko Obradovic, leader of the far-right, anti-European Union (EU) movement Dveri that took part in the elections in coalition with Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), accused Progressive Party and the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) of intentionally decreasing his result and stealing votes in an organized way.

Obradovic, whose coalition lacks one single vote to enter the parliament, said Progressives are not satisfied with their 48 percent so they wish to sink several opposition parties under the threshold of five percent and take their MP (member of the parliament) seats in the parliament.

Pro-EU coalitions around the Democratic Party (DS), Social Democratic Party (SDS) and movement "Enough is Enough" supported anti-EU coalition DSS-Dveri in these claims, using it as one more proof that April 24 elections were irregular.

"We think that a large number of votes were stolen by the Progressive party by adding votes of deceased persons, non-existing voters and by manipulation with the sacks containing the voting ballots," said leader of the movement "Enough is Enough" Sasa Radulovic, adding that prior to the voting people were instructed and forced to vote for the ruling party as well as bribed with money.

Leader of the Progressive Party Aleksandar Vucic reacted to these claims already on Thursday strongly, denying any interference in the electoral process, and claiming that opposition parties have put immense pressure on RIK.

"I would never steal anything, not a single vote," Vucic said in a live show on national television, adding that he puts his full trust in the results that RIK released.

Members of RIK confirmed that opposition parties "put unbearable pressure" on this institution that organized the elections "in a professional way and without bigger irregularities," which was also confirmed by international observers.

However, RIK late on Wednesday decided to cancel the results of the April 24 elections at 15 polling stations where 19,600 voters will have to vote again on May 4 at a repeated election due to irregularities reported both by ruling Progressives and parties of the opposition.

Latest preliminary results of RIK based on 99,82 percent of counted votes show Progressives won 48.24 percent of votes, while five other coalitions made it across the 5 percent threshold -- Socialist Party (10.96 percent), Radical Party (8.11 percent), DS (6.03 percent), Movement "Enough is Enough" (6.03 percent) and SDS (5.02 percent).

Final results will be released on May 8, four days after the repeated voting on May 4.

The elections, called by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic two years before his term ends, confirmed his expectations and will bring him another full four-year mandate for reforms to pave the way for Serbia's full membership into the EU. Endit