BELGRADE: Protesters on Monday launched the first of several announced road blocks in Belgrade over alleged electoral fraud in Serbia’s recent parliamentary and local elections, a reporter saw.

President Aleksandar Vucic meanwhile denounced the violence in the capital the previous evening and claimed there was evidence it had been planned in advance.

A few hundred demonstrators blocked the street in central Belgrade where the public administration and local self-government ministry is located.

The protesters, mainly students organised under the “Borba” (Fight) movement, were supporting the outcry from the opposition that started on Dec 18th, a day after the elections. They are calling for a revision of the electoral list, claiming that it was the source of the alleged electoral fraud.

“I am born 2002, and I thought that there would be no need, as my parents did, to fight for democracy through the street,” 21-year-old politics student Emilija Milenkovic said. “But I have to,” she added she was wearing the badge of “Otpor”, the students’ movement that in the past organised protests against former president Slobodan Milosevic. After the Dec 17 elections, Vucic’s party said it had secured a commanding victory.

But international observers — including representatives from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) — reported “irregularities”, including “vote buying” and “ballot box stuffing”.

The allegations led to continuous protests in front of Serbia’s electoral commission building lasting several days. Seven members of the main opposition camp, united under the banner “Serbia Against Violence”, meanwhile began a hunger strike aimed at getting the results annulled.

On Sunday evening, Serbian opposition demonstrators broke windows as they tried to storm Belgrade city hall. A heavy police presence pushed them back with the help of pepper spray.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2023