(21 Jun 2020) Serbia's president and leader of the ruling Progressive Party, Aleksandar Vucic, cast his ballot at a Belgrade polling station on Sunday.
The nation-s ruling populists looked set to tighten their hold on power Sunday in a parliamentary election held despite concerns over the spread of coronavirus in the Balkan country and a partial boycott by the opposition.
Nearly 6.6 million voters were eligible to cast ballots for Serbia's 250-member parliament and local authorities in the first national vote in Europe amid the virus outbreak.
The election - initially planned for April but postponed because of the pandemic - comes as Serbia is still reporting dozens of new cases daily after completely relaxing its strict lockdown rules.
Citing lack of free and fair conditions and danger to public health, several main opposition groups are boycotting the vote.
But a number of smaller parties have decided to run, saying the boycott would only sideline an already marginalised opposition.
A former extreme nationalist, Vucic briefly served as information minister in the government of late strongman Slobodan Milosevic during the 1990s wars in the Balkans.
While Vucic now says he seeks European Union entry for Serbia, critics warn that democratic freedoms have eroded since his party came to power in 2012.
The autocratic president has called on his supporters to vote in large numbers to get a strong mandate for internationally mediated peace negotiations on the future of Serbia's breakaway former province of Kosovo.
A US-brokered Kosovo-Serbia summit is to he held in Washington on June 27, while EU officials have announced plans to restart Brussels-mediated negotiations.
Serbia has refused to recognise Western-backed independence of Kosovo and has the support of Russia and China in the dispute.

Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ] ​​
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]


You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]

свернуть