Talha Ozturk
31 December 2023•Update: 31 December 2023
BELGRADE, Serbia
Thousands of residents in Serbia’s capital gathered Saturday to protest the results of snap general and local elections.
The rally in Belgrade was organized by one of the coalitions that competed in the polls --Serbia Against Violence.
The protests have been ongoing on for 12 straight days in different locations.
Demonstrators are demanding the cancellation of the elections and chanting: "We do not accept."
Opposition officials participated in the protest, which was described as "a flood of people in Belgrade" in media reports.
"I said everything necessary. These elections must be canceled," Marinika Tepic told the crowd. Tepic is one of the key opposition figures.
Tepic has been on hunger strike for 13 days.
Media reports said she was taken to the hospital after her address.
She was able to get to the stage with the help of two people.
Later, demonstrators walked to the Constitutional Court building and ended their protests.
Meanwhile, a 24-hour road closure, which was initiated by a group of university students by setting up a tent Friday on one of the main roads in Belgrade at noon, ended with the arrival of the protesters.
Protesters applauded the students who spent the night outside.
The opposition's objections were rejected
The opposition demanded that hundreds of people from the Republika Srpska (RS), one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, be taken to Belgrade by buses to vote Dec. 17, and the election should be canceled to eliminate that irregularity.
The State Election Commission (RIK) announced that objections made by the Serbia Against Violence coalition regarding the election were rejected.
RIK Vice President Marko Jankovic said the grounds for objection and said,
"The objections mostly addressed situations such as double registration, vote buying, inequality in election campaigns and irregularities in the delivery of election materials. However, no irregularities were found in the election centers where the objections were made,'' said Jankovic.
Elections are being repeated in more than 30 election centers
In line with the decision of the commission, voting is being held again Saturday in more than 30 election centers.
Three of the centers, where 19, 543 registered voters voted again, are located in towns in Belgrade.
The commission also announced that voting will be held again in eight additional centers Jan. 2.
Media reports said results in places where elections were repeated will not change the general picture as more than 8,000 centers were opened during the elections in which more than 6.5 million registered voters cast ballots.
According to unofficial results announced by the Election Commission, the Aleksandar Vucic-Serbia Must Stop alliance, supported by President Aleksandar Vucic and led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which has been in power since 2012, finished ahead, receiving 46% of the vote.
The Serbia Against Violence alliance was second with 23%.
