(ANSA-AFP) - BELGRADE, JUN 3 - Serbia's ruling nationalist
party claimed victory in the capital Belgrade on Sunday in a
rerun of local elections, nearly six months after allegations of
fraud in a previous poll sparked weeks of protests. With
official results yet to be announced, Serbia's president and SNS
party leader Aleksandar Vucic claimed a commanding victory in
the capital and almost all other municipalities around the
country where votes were held. The SNS had narrowly won the
December vote with 49 seats in the city council but was unable
to form a municipal government, prompting a new election. "We
had a majority even after December 17 in Belgrade. But we felt
that wasn't enough legitimacy because some others didn't want to
form a coalition with us. Now, we will have 62 or 63 seats" out
of 110 on the city council, Vucic said on Sunday. Shortly after
Vucic's speech, fireworks resounded in the capital. According to
preliminary results based on exit polls published by the Center
for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID) and Ipsos, the SNS came
out on top with 53 percent of the vote in Belgrade followed by
Kreni Promeni ("Go for Change"), a newcomer to the opposition,
with 17 percent of the vote. Turnout, meanwhile, was lower than
in December -- two hours before the polls closed at 6:00 pm
(1600 GMT), 37 percent of voters in the capital had cast their
ballots, compared with over 45 percent in December, according to
the only official turnout figures published that day. Unlike
last year's elections, SNS was pitted against a divided
opposition, with some boycotting the vote while others tried to
attract voters. Savo Manojlovic, leader of Go For Change and its
Belgrade mayoral candidate, expressed satisfaction with the
results, but added: "We have nothing to celebrate in a country
with such electoral conditions." "This is a great success for
these people, all the supervisors, candidates, and supporters
who stood by us in impossible conditions with a budget where we
didn't have a single billboard", Manojlovic said. (ANSA-AFP).
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
