Serbia’s ruling coalition achieves record election victory – preliminary results

Coalition around the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) led by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic achieved a landslide victory at the parliamentary elections on Sunday, according to the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK).

Preliminary results of the RIK showed that the coalition around the SNS won 63.35 percent of votes, while smaller ruling coalition partner Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) led by Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic collected another 10.62 percent.

“I have been in politics for a long time, but I have never experienced a moment like this. We have gained the huge trust of the people, the greatest ever in Serbia, in conditions when few believed in it,” Vucic said at his party’s headquarters, warning that they need to be even more responsible, serious and diligent.

He pointed out that Serbia will continue even harder to pursue its aspiration to become a member of the European Union, “but also maintain its friendship with traditional allies and countries that stepped in to help amidst the COVID-19 crisis.”

CeSID, an independent election monitoring organization, estimated that the turnout was at 47.7 percent.

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After preliminary results were published, Dacic said at the SPS headquarters that his party is ready to continue cooperating with the SNS in realizing Serbia’s national interests.

He stressed that the ruling SNS-SPS coalition that has been in power since 2012 won around 75 percent of votes today, which confirmed their achievements in the previous period.

The RIK is obliged by law to declare final results in 96 hours after the closure of polling stations.

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Source: Xinhua