Opponents of Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 gathered on Friday evening outside the Constitutional Court building demanding last month\u2019s elections be annulled due to widespread irregularities reported by both local and international observers.<\/p>\n
The group \u201cSerbia Against Violence\u201d accused President Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s Government of orchestrating fraud in the parliamentary and local elections on December 17, particularly in Belgrade, the Serbian capital. President Vu\u010di\u0107 has denied the allegations.<\/p>\n
The State Electoral Commission declared Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s Progressive Party the winner of the elections and dismissed opposition appeals. The Constitutional Court has yet to rule on the appeals.<\/p>\n
Opposition politician Radomir Lazovi\u0107 said, \u201cThis is a battle for everyone because everyone loses with this (electoral abuse)\u201d.<\/p>\n
Around 2,000 protesters also marched towards the headquarters of Serbia\u2019s public broadcaster RTS, which they accuse of being pro-government.<\/p>\n
International election observers reported cases of vote-buying and ballot box stuffing, stating that Serbian elections were held under \u201cunfair conditions\u201d overall.<\/p>\n
Opposition parties and independent local observers claimed that voters were bused into Belgrade to cast ballots for the ruling party after being registered at false addresses.<\/p>\n
Thousands protested for days at the end of December, accusing President Vu\u010di\u0107 of election theft. Police used tear gas and arrested dozens as protesters attempted to enter the Belgrade city hall during one of the demonstrations.<\/p>\n
While President Vu\u010di\u0107 says he wants to lead Serbia towards European Union membership, critics accuse the populist leader of imposing autocracy by taking control of major media outlets and key state institutions.<\/p>\n
Serbia needs to strengthen the rule of law and democratic freedoms to become a member of the bloc of 27 countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Opponents of Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 gathered on Friday evening outside the Constitutional Court building demanding last month\u2019s elections be annulled due to widespread irregularities reported by both local and international observers. The group \u201cSerbia Against Violence\u201d accused President Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s Government of orchestrating fraud in the parliamentary and local elections on December 17, particularly in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":65167,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[250],"tags":[995,5925,348,150,243,151,570,848,301,787],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n