The Lonely Landslide: Serbia
Photograph of opposition protests in Belgrade. Photo courtesy of the European Pressphoto Agency.
On 21 June, Serbia held a hotly controversial parliamentary election, Europe's first national elections in the wake of COVID-19.
The elections were boycotted by the main opposition parties, leading to a landslide victory for the populist (Serbian Progressive Party) SNS Coalition parties, whose leader, Aleksandar Vučić, has run Serbian politics for nearly a decade.
The SNS parties, along with their left-wing coalition partners, the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), garnered 223 seats out of the total 250 seats in the Serbian National Assembly, according to The Washington Post.
The elections were marred by mass demonstrations in more than 100 cities, protesting the lack of press and political freedoms in the country. Serbian opposition leader Borko Stefanović was also subject to 'political violence' by supporters of the administrations.
These actions led to the primary opposition parties, including the 'Alliance for Serbia', a group of the five largest opposition parties, forming a bloc dedicated to electoral reform and enforcing the rule of law. The Alliance also withdrew from negotiations, mediated by the European Parliament, to lift the boycott.
The lack of opposition participation and the less than 50 per cent participation rate has severely undermined the SNS and its coalition partner's claims to legitimacy.
The boycott is believed to be an attempt by some of the political parties to attract the attention of European Union leaders, to jumpstart political negotiations, as reported by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
One day before the election took place, the Serbian government changed the electoral rules, requiring a local government official to verify the signatures needed to confirm a person's candidacy. This new rule came after reports that opposition candidates were already having difficulty acquiring the necessary signatures.
Another new electoral regulation was also introduced before the election took place, in anticipation of an electoral boycott, The Serbian parliament lowered the threshold for a candidate to enter parliament, reportedly, in an attempt to encourage smaller 'walk-on' parties to flood the ballot.
The country's 'media monopoly' has also drawn criticism from the administration's critics, as lending weight to the anti-democratic environment in the country.
Last year, according to Al Jazeera, the opposition proposed a series of media and electoral reforms, including measures to ensure equal access to the media for all major parties. However, none of these proposals were met by the government, according to Al Jazeera.
The only major party, not a member of the government coalition, to appear on the list of parties in parliament was the right-wing Serbian Patriotic Alliance, which won 11 seats.
Despite the fact that Mr Vučić, currently serving under the title of President, is not up for re-election, the SNS list of candidates is listed as 'Aleksandar Vučić — For Our Children'.
Several European Union groups and leaders have already written letters criticising Serbia's democratic process and media credentials, prompting talks that the EU might intervene, similarly to the Northern Macedonia in early 2019, according to Politico.
Right-wing Hungarian Viktor Orbán was quick to congratulate Mr Vučić on his victory.
European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi, who is also from Hungary, called the election 'an important day for Serbia' and he looked forward in the process of Serbia accession into the European Union.
While Mr Vučić and his parliamentary partners have a virtually unchallenged governing majority, their credentials as a democratic country, viable for European Union membership, has been severely shaken.
Sources:
Stojanović, Boban and Casal Bértoa, Fernando. ‘Serbia’s ruling party just scored a landslide victory. Here’s why the opposition boycotted the election.’ The Washington Post, Nash Holdings, 30 June 2020,
Delauney, Guy. ‘Serbia election: Opposition scorns 'hoax' vote in EU candidate state’. BBC News, British Broadcasting Corporation, 20 June 2020,
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53107011
Gadzo, Mersiha. ‘'No uncertainty': Ruling party set to win Serbia elections’. Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera Media Network, 21 June 2020,
‘Serbian ruling party wins by landslide in Europe’s first Covid-19 election’. Politico, Capitol News Company, 21 June 2020,
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/21/serbia-election-vucic-coronavirus-333139