Serbia’s incumbent president Aleksandar Vucic is set to win the country’s presidential vote, according to a projection by pollsters Ipsos and CeSID published on Sunday night.
Based on a sample of the partial polling station count, Vucic received 59.8% of the votes while the opposition candidate Zdravko Ponos got 17.1% of the votes.
The same projection suggested that Vucic’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) was set to win the most seats in parliament, with 43.6% of the votes which compares to 12.9% support for the United for Victory opposition alliance, and 11.6% for the Socialist Party of Serbia.
Some 6.5 million voters also decided on the make-up of the next parliament as well as local representatives in the capital, Belgrade, and some dozen other towns and municipalities.
Opinion polls showed that Vucic was highly likely to be reelected and that his party would again dominate the 250-member assembly.
Opposition candidates were seen as having a chance of winning a majority in Belgrade, which would be a major setback for the populists.
Amid high tensions in Europe caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Vucic campaigned on ensuring peace and stability for the country.
Belgrade has joined in the UN resolution condemning the Russian attack on Ukraine but refused to impose sanctions against Moscow. Vucic has in the past boasted of having close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia has also backed Serbia’s claims on Kosovo, a former province that declared independence in 2008 with widespread Western support.
Vucic, who was the minister of information in the government of former strongman Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, accused of grave war crimes in former Yugoslavia, has recast himself as a pro-European politician ever since his party came to power in 2012.
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