Current:Home > ContactProtesters gather outside a top Serbian court to demand that a disputed election be annulled-VaTradeCoin
Protesters gather outside a top Serbian court to demand that a disputed election be annulled
lotradecoin top traders leaderboard View Date:2024-12-25 22:54:14
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Opponents of Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic rallied outside the Constitutional Court building on Friday to press their demand that last month’s election be annulled and held again over reported widespread irregularities.
The Serbia Against Violence group has accused Vucic’s populist government of orchestrating a fraud in the Dec. 17 parliamentary and local voting, particularly in the capital Belgrade. Vucic has denied the accusation.
The state election commission has declared Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party the election winner and rejected the opposition’s complaints. The Constitutional Court is yet to rule on the dispute.
Opposition politician Radomir Lazovic said “this is a battle of all of us, everyone loses with this (vote rigging.)”
Some 2,000 people also marched toward the headquarters of Serbia’s public broadcaster RTS which they accuse of pro-government bias.
International election monitors reported instances of vote buying and ballot box stuffing, and said the Serbian election generally was held in “unjust conditions.”
Opposition parties and local independent election observers have claimed voters were bused in to Belgrade to cast ballots for the ruling party after being registered at bogus addresses.
Thousands of people rallied for days in late December accusing Vucic of stealing the ballot. Police used pepper spray and detained dozens of people after protesters tried to enter the Belgrade City Hall at one of the demonstrations.
Though Vucic says he wants to lead Serbia into the European Union, critics accuse the populist leader of imposing an autocracy by taking control over mainstream media and all state institutions.
Serbia must boost rule of law and democracy freedoms in order to become a member of the 27-nation bloc.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- Amazon's Thank My Driver feature returns: How to give a free $5 tip after delivery
- Police are searching for a suspect who shot a man to death at a Starbucks in southwestern Japan
- The WNBA and USWNT represent the best of Martin Luther King Jr.'s beautiful vision
- Rewind It Back to the 2003 Emmys With These Star-Studded Photos
- Hate crime charges dropped against 12 college students arrested in Maryland assault
- King Frederik X visits Danish parliament on his first formal work day as Denmark’s new monarch
- Small plane crash kills 3 in North Texas, authorities say; NTSB opens investigation
- Horse racing in China’s gaming hub of Macao to end in April, after over 40 years
- Trump will be honored as Time’s Person of the Year and ring the New York Stock Exchange bell
- The Excerpt podcast: Celebrating the outsized impact of Dr. Martin Luther King
Ranking
- Sabrina Carpenter Shares Her Self
- Tom Holland Shares Sweet Insight Into Zendaya Romance After Shutting Down Breakup Rumors
- Ruth Ashton Taylor, trailblazing journalist who had 50-year career in radio and TV, dies at age 101
- Fueled by unprecedented border crossings, a record 3 million cases clog US immigration courts
- KISS OF LIFE reflects on sold
- Bulls fans made a widow cry. It's a sad reminder of how cruel our society has become.
- How Tyre Nichols' parents stood strong in their public grief in year after fatal police beating
- Small plane crash kills 3 in North Texas, authorities say; NTSB opens investigation
Recommendation
-
Bill Belichick's salary at North Carolina: School releases football coach's contract details
-
Arakan Army resistance force says it has taken control of a strategic township in western Myanmar
-
Tina Fey says she and work 'wife' Amy Poehler still watch 'SNL' together
-
Two Navy SEALs are missing after Thursday night mission off coast of Somalia
-
Biden commutes roughly 1,500 sentences and pardons 39 people in biggest single
-
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern marries longtime partner in private wedding ceremony
-
Lions fans ready to erupt after decades of waiting for their playoff moment
-
Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy announces he'll enter NFL draft