With almost 60 percent of the votes
Vucic declares himself the winner of the elections in Serbia
04/03/2022, 11:19 p.m
Most likely, Serbian President Vucic can look forward to a second term. According to initial estimates, he will be confirmed in office with a large majority of votes. He has already declared himself the winner of the election. Critics accuse him of an authoritarian style of government.
Serbia’s head of state Aleksandar Vucic declared himself the winner after the parliamentary and presidential elections. He received 2,245,000 votes in the first round of voting, Vucic said in a victory speech on television. That’s about 60 percent of all votes. It had already been expected that the head of state would be confirmed in office.
According to calculations by the election research institutes Ipsos and Cesid, Vucic received 59.8 percent of the votes on Sunday and his strongest opponent, Zdravko Ponos, 17 percent. In parliament, Vucic’s SNS party is in first place with 43.6 percent, followed by the Parteu Ujedinjeni with 12.8 percent, Ipsos and Cesid explained.
In view of the uncertainties resulting from the Ukraine war, Vucic, who is considered a populist, presented himself as a guarantor of stability. The Ukraine war had overshadowed the election campaign in Serbia. Previously dominant issues such as environmental protection and corruption faded into the background.
Vucic preferred a new election
Vucic has consolidated his power since taking office as president in 2017. Critics accuse him of authoritarian traits and a problematic relationship with press freedom. Vucic’s main challenger was former military chief Zdravko Ponos, who was supported by the pro-European opposition.
Vucic has been determining politics in Serbia in changing roles since 2012. The SNS-dominated parliament was only elected in 2020. Vucic had the new election brought forward in order to secure the supremacy of the SNS by merging it with the presidential election. Serbia is applying for EU membership while maintaining close political and economic ties with Russia. While Serbia condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it did not support the sanctions imposed on Russia by the West.