A triumph announced that of Aleksandar Vucic in Serbia, where yesterday he voted simultaneously for the early parliamentary, presidential and administrative elections in 14 municipalities, including the capital Belgrade.
The first official data released by the electoral commission, although still very partial, indicate the undoubted success of Vucic, even around 70% for the presidential elections, and 53% for his Serbian Progress Party (SNS, conservative) in the legislative elections.
This is also confirmed by projections by the two opinion research institutes Ipsos and CeSID, which also lead Vucic's party in Belgrade.
Vucic is therefore set to win the presidential elections for the second time, while the SNS will continue to be the governing majority force for the next legislature.
The consultation was characterized by a strong recovery in turnout, which should amount to around 60%, about ten points more than the last legislative ones of June 2020.
"Peace. Stability. Vucic": this was the slogan of the electoral campaign of the outgoing president, which took place in the shadow of the war in Ukraine and with the ups and downs of the pandemic weakened but not yet eradicated. A campaign that initially had as dominant themes the fight against corruption and crime, the strengthening of democratic rights and the defense of the environment, issues that have remained on the sidelines, overwhelmed by the looming war and by Serbia's positioning on the armed conflict in the not so distant Ukraine.
And the new tensions that emerged with the Russian armed intervention, together with fears about the possible spread of instability and threats also to the Balkans, have given further motivation and impetus to Vucic's campaign which, in addition to hammering on the great economic and modernization results of the A country obtained from its management over the last ten years, it has positioned itself as the only true political leader capable of keeping the bar straight and guaranteeing peace and stability not only to Serbia but to the entire region.
The vote was monitored by observer groups from the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the European Parliament. Irregularities and incidents of various kinds, albeit not of great importance, have been reported in some polling stations around the country.
(Unioneonline / vl)