site.btaRuling Serbian Progressive Party Wins Sunday’s Local Elections in Three Serbian Municipalities

The ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won in all three municipalities in Serbia where local elections were held on Sunday, Serbian media report.

The chairman of SNS, Milos Vucevic, said that SNS won 69.3% of the vote in Negotin, while the opposition coalition United for Negotin came second with 26.7% of the vote.

In Secanj, SNS received 60.9%, the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) 4.7%, and the opposition 30.4%.

In Mionica, SNS won 52.6% of the vote, and the opposition received 38.5%, Vucevic said.

He said that the elections took place “in a difficult situation” and accused supporters of the opposition of coming to these municipalities to create chaos.

According to observers and opposition representatives, the elections in Negotin, Mionica, and Secanj were marked by numerous irregularities, threats, and physical clashes, reports the Serbian service of Radio Free Europe.

Several incidents occurred in Mionica, in Western Serbia. Serious incidents took place in a bar in the village of Rajkovic, near Mionica, the portal Insider reported.

Video footage, circulated on social media, shows a fight with chairs and broken windows in the village.

Serbia’s Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said on Sunday evening that during the local elections in Mionica, Negotin, and Secanj, several cases of public order violations were recorded, especially in Mionica, and that several people had been detained throughout the day.

The opposition group Green–Left Front (ZLF) reported that one of their MPs was attacked on Sunday afternoon in Mionica, and that the police did not respond.

ZLF claims that independent election observers and opposition MPs were followed by masked individuals who threatened them throughout the entire election day in Mionica, Radio Free Europe reports.

Five months earlier, amid anti-government protests led by students, local elections were held in Zajecar and Kosjeric. In both towns, the ruling coalition in Serbia won, but the elections were marked by high tensions.