BELGRADE: Thousands gathered in a square in in central Belgrade on Saturday in the biggest protest yet over parliamentary and municipal elections on December 17, results of which the demonstrators want annulled.
Protesters waving Serbian flags and holding a banner reading "We do not accept" cheered Marinika Tepic, a leader of the opposition Serbia Against Violence alliance, who has been on hunger strike since December 18.
The ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won 46.72 per cent of the votes in the December 17 snap parliamentary election, according to preliminary results from the state election commission.
"These elections must be annulled," Tepic, who came to the stage with the help of two colleagues, told the protesters, gathered in front of the landmark Moskva hotel.
Serbia Against Violence, which placed second in the general election, has accused the SNS of widespread vote fraud, which the authorities deny.
An international monitoring mission following the vote said the SNS had gained an unfair advantage through media bias, the improper influence of President Aleksandar Vucic, and voting irregularities such as vote buying. Serbian authorities deny any irregularities.
Jovana Djokovic, a 29-year-old software developer, said she had come to the protest with her parents who drove to Belgrade from the central town of Kraljevo, 177 kilometres south.
"I came here to express my disagreement with election result. I feel responsibility to be here," Djokovic said. "Elections were not fair."
The opposition has since December 17 held daily protests against the election results in front of the election commission, mostly attracting several hundred people.
The Saturday protest was supported by students' organisations and by an initiative gathering public figures including prominent intellectuals and actors dubbed ProGlas.
Serbia Against Violence came second in the election with 23.56 per cent of the vote. The Socialist Party of Serbia was third with 6.56 per cent.
Full results of the elections are not likely to be published until some time next month.
An international monitoring mission last Monday said the ruling party had gained an unfair advantage through media bias, the improper influence and voting irregularities.
Serbia Against Violence has organised daily protests over the election results in front of the election commission.
"Complaints of election irregularities need to be properly investigated and addressed," the European Commission said in a statement last week. — Reuters
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