Belgrade Holds Fresh Local Elections Amid Fraud Claims

Serbia's capital Belgrade on Sunday held a fresh round of voting in local elections, nearly six months after alleged irregularities and accusations of fraud marred an earlier vote.

Local elections were also taking place in dozens of other municipalities around the country.

President Aleksandar Vucic's governing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) headed into the polls with momentum, while the opposition "Serbia Against Violence" coalition that challenged the SNS in December has faced infighting.

In December's vote, the opposition won 43 of 110 seats in Belgrade's municipal council to the SNS's 49, but the SNS could not form a government, prompting the re-run. Local elections also took place in dozens of other municipalities.

After December's internationally criticized vote over "irregularities" like "vote buying" and "ballot stuffing", protests rattled Belgrade for weeks, though courts rejected annulling the results.

This time, the fragmented opposition disagreed over possibly boycotting, fueling apathy.

Some local NGOs observing the voting said dozens of irregularities had been noted, including cases of "vote buying", so-called family voting, or double registration of voters.

The symbolic Belgrade vote matters economically, generating 40% of Serbia's GDP. One-fourth of Serbs live in the capital of 1.6 million registered voters.

Vucic pushed a nationalist message after Serbia opposed a UN Srebrenica genocide remembrance day. Legislation prohibited recently moved voters from casting ballots to combat alleged December busing of Bosnian Serb voters.

The "Serbia Against Violence" coalition formed after the 2022 mass shootings sparked large anti-government protests that Vucic dismissed as a "foreign plot".