Serbia votes as students seek to unseat Vucic in snap election
Opinion polls point to a tight race as the student-backed list challenges Vucic’s party after nearly two years of protests.
- With limited polling stations available abroad for Sunday's election, Serbians are forming grassroots networks to arrange long-distance travel and accommodation. The Serbian Electoral Commission approved only 93 sites globally.
- Critics allege the government deliberately restricted polling locations to suppress turnout among expatriates, who are viewed as less supportive of populist leader Aleksandar Vucic. The ruling Serbian Progressive Party faces its biggest electoral challenge from a student-led movement.
- Volunteers launched VoteBnB, matching hundreds of requests with 1,300 accommodation and 750 ride-share offers. Voters in Canada face 3,500-kilometre journeys from Vancouver to Toronto, while Australians are organizing 900-kilometre trips from Brisbane to Sydney.
- Many voters face grueling middle-of-the-night polling times to align with Serbian time zones. Irina Djordjic, a Serbian citizen in Canada, said, "Some people have small children, some can't be absent for too long."
- Tens of thousands of overseas ballots could influence the tight race, as participants describe their efforts as supporting the student movement. This reflects broader efforts to reverse Serbia's democratic backsliding under Vucic in the Balkan nation.
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427 Articles
Reformatorisch Dagblad
In the snap parliamentary elections in Serbia, about 35 percent of voters had already cast their ballots by 1:00 PM. In the 2023 elections, this was approximately 21 percent at the same time. A high turnout is expected this Sunday.
Herald Bulletin
Polls closed in Serbia's election where strongman Vucic is facing student protest movement
Polls have closed in Serbia, where voters cast ballots in a parliamentary election seen as a showdown between strongman leader Aleksandar Vucic and a student-led movement. The election is shaping up as a referendum between Vucic's right-wing party and the…
Until 16H00 local time, participation reached 56.38 percent, according to the Republican Institute of Statistics.
The election commission announced a turnout of 64.89 per cent at 6 p.m. Sunday for the Serbian legislature, a record since 1993.
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