site.btaPresident Vucic: We Will Have Absolute Majority in Serbian Parliament

Speaking at a press conference after the snap parliamentary elections on Sunday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that the coalition around his Serbian Progressive Party had won 46.5% of the vote based on 76% of the tally sheets processed.

He noted that the Aleksandar Vucic - Serbia Must Not Stop coalition takes 127 seats in Parliament according to this result, adding that it will have an absolute majority. Vucic, who stepped down as the leader of the Serbian Progressive Party earlier this year, said that these estimates do not include the votes of Kosovo Serbs.

The Pristina authorities once again barred Kosovo Serbs from voting in Kosovo. Belgrade does not recognize Kosovo’s independence declared in 2008. This has been a source of unremitting tensions between the two countries, which are holding EU-mediated talks to normalize ties. Serbia started EU accession talks in 2014.   

Vucic said that Serbia is going through tough times, but it will always keep Kosovo as part of its territory.  

“We are in for tough times. We will have to negotiate and keep our European path. There will be difficult talks and hard concessions with Pristina as well, but we will always protect Kosovo and Metohija as part of Serbia’s territory,” Vucic added.

The snap elections were triggered by weekly protests across Serbia, sparked by two mass shootings in May. The first shooting took place at a school in Belgrade, where a teenager shot dead nine students and a security guard. A day later, a young man opened fire in a village near the Serbian capital, killing eight people. The protesters demanded that the government take responsibility and that further promotion of violence in the media and public space be stopped.

Some 6.5 million Serbians were eligible to vote. They elected 250 MPs among 2,800 candidates from 18 lists. Voter turnout was at 55.9% by 7 p.m.

Sunday’s parliamentary elections were held together with local elections in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and more than 60 municipalities, including Belgrade.