Serbia's incumbent President Vucic set to win second term

BELGRADE :Serbia's incumbent President Aleksandar Vucic is set to win presidential vote on Sunday (Apr 3) with 59.8 per cent of the votes, according to a projection by pollsters Ipsos and CeSID, based on a sample of the partial polling station count.

Zdravko Ponos, a retired army general representing the pro-European and centrist Alliance for Victory coalition is set to come second with 17.1 per cent of the votes.

In the parliamentary vote Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) is set to come first with 43.6 per cent of votes, Ipsos and CeSID projections showed.

The United for Victory opposition alliance trailed behind with 12.9 per cent of the votes.

As the SNS would likely fail to secure enough seats in the 250 parliament to rule alone, it will have to seek coalition partners.

The Socialist Party of Serbia, a long time ally of the SNS and the probable coalition partner, is seen third with 11.6 per cent of the votes.

According to the State Election Commission turnout, based on counting 7.7 per cent of the electorate was 58.54 per cent.

Vucic ran for the second five-year term on a promise of peace and stability just as Russia has invaded Ukraine, which has put Serbia under pressure from the West to choose between its traditional ties with Moscow and aspirations to join the European Union (EU).

CeSID and CRTA pollsters reported several irregularities, including photographing of ballots.

The opposition largely boycotted a parliamentary election in 2020, allowing Vucic's SNS party and its allies to secure 188 seats in the 250-seat parliament.

Voters from Kosovo, Serbia's predominantly ethnic Albanian former province which declared independence in 2008, were taken to polling stations in Serbia proper by bus.

SHADOW OF WAR

Russia's Feb 24 invasion of Ukraine has had a big impact on campaigning in Serbia, which is still recovering from the Balkan wars and isolation of the 1990s.

Serbia is almost entirely dependent on Russian gas, while its army maintains ties with Russia's military.

The Kremlin also supports Belgrade's opposition to the independence of Kosovo by blocking its membership to the United Nations.

Although Serbia backed two United Nations resolutions condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it refused to impose sanctions against Moscow.

A veteran politician who served as information minister in 1998 under former strongman Slobodan Milosevic, Vucic has transformed himself from a nationalist firebrand to a proponent of EU membership, but also of military neutrality and ties with Russia and China.

Ponos has accused Vucic of using the war in Ukraine in his campaign to capitalise on people's fears.

Opposition and rights watchdogs also accuse Vucic and his allies of an autocratic style of rule, corruption, nepotism, controlling the media, attacks on political opponents and ties with organised crime. Vucic and his allies have repeatedly denied all those allegations.