MMore than a quarter of voters in Serbia have voted by 11:00 in early parliamentary elections this Sunday, October 25th, amid long queues ahead of polling and reporting on irregularities.
According to the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy ( CeSID, attendance has reached 27.3 percent, compared with 15.1 percent at the same hour in the 2023 elections.
The Republican Election Commission announced that by 10:00, 19.72 percent of registered voters had voted, compared to 9.94 percent at the same hour in the 2023 elections.
Meanwhile, according to election observers in Serbia, Crna, voter turnout is already out of the historical train. Rashi Nedelko of this mission said that until 10:00 p.m., attendance is 10 percent higher than in 2023.
According to him, a total of 14 percent procedure irregularities have been recorded by noon. Among the irregularities is the photographing of balloting, problems with spray, and ultraviolet lamps and other irregularities.
In this election, third parliamentary in the past five years, a student movement derived from a civic initiative is aiming to end Aleksandar Vuciqi’s 14-year power and the Serbian Progressive Party ( SNS).
According to the CRTA monitoring mission, the polls across Serbia opened mainly on time. Meanwhile, the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy ( CeSID announced that by 0900 hours more than 70 irregularities were reported during the vote.
According to the organisation, cases of ballot photos, phone use, out-of-door voting and family voting have been recorded, including a report that one voter has voted on behalf of another person.
Conflicts have also been reported among members of polling councils, temporary suspension of voting, incidents and threats against voters, as well as problems with electoral material and voter verification.
Especially disturbing is preventing the approach of observers. In some polls, observers are not allowed access, so we must contact the responsible authorities and intervene so that they can do their job, CeSID said.
The polling is open between 7:00 and Serbia’s citizens can vote until 8:00.
Voter rights have 6,450,523 citizens. The vote is taking place at 8.392 locations, of which 93 are located abroad.
Vuciq resigned from office of president in late September. Since he cannot run for a third term, he now intends to become prime minister, the post he held from 2014 until he was elected president in 2017.
However, the election campaign has been coupled with increasingly serious concerns that there may be electoral manipulations.
The elections are closely followed by the European Union, which has criticised Serbia for turning to democracy under Vuciqi’s leadership. / REL