Serbia: Opposition Protesters Demand ‘Fair’ Election
Several thousand demonstrators marched on Saturday evening in a new protest demanding fair and free elections in Serbia.
By Maja Zivanovic and Filip Rudic
In the second large protest against Serbian government and President Aleksandar Vucic in one week, thousands of protesters massed on the streets of Belgrade to demand for elections to be free and fair.
The rally comes after President Vucic earlier warned that he would not meet the demands of protesters.
Despite bad weather, the protest drew more people than the previous
one on December 8, which was attended by 15,000 people according to the
opposition.
Several opposition parties on Friday signed an agreement on commonly agreed conditions for free and fair elections.
The
document was signed by the Alliance for Serbia, the Democratic Party of
Serbia, the Social Democratic Party, the New Party, the Democratic
Union of Vojvodina Hungarians, the Enough is Enough movement, the
Movement of the Centre, the Civil Platform and the civic initiative
Let’s Not Drown Belgrade.
The key demands are the effective
prevention of abuse of the electoral roll and of public resources in the
campaign, control of the electoral process, including in Kosovo,
control of election campaigns and during election day, and criminal
sanctions against those that abuse the campaign.
In his reaction to the demands, Vucic said he would not agree to them – and hinted that he might call snap elections instead.
After
the protesters gathered in the centre of Belgrade, they walked close to
several key institutions, including the parliament building and the
building housing the Serbian public broadcaster, RTS.
This is
second anti-government protest this month, after several thousand people
participated in a march called “No More Bloodied Shirts” in Belgrade on
December 8, which was held after a journalist was beaten up and left
with a bloodied shirt.
