TIRANA – “The absence of pro-European parliamentary parties in the opposition block must not undermine the pro-European determination of Serbia and its aspirations to join the European Union”, stated MEPs Vladimir Bilčik and Tanja Fajon following the elections in Serbia on Sunday.
Elections were won in a landslide by the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). The largest opposition coalition Alliance for Serbia boycotted the election, with the only two other lists crossing the threshold being junior coalition partner Socialist Party of Serbia and SPAS party of a local mayor, who has so far been ambiguous about his position towards SNS.
“Whilst there has been substantial effort to improve the electoral conditions through the European Parliament’s facilitated Inter-Party Dialogue, we regret that some opposition parties maintained their position in boycott of the parliamentary elections,” said Bilčik, EP Rapporteur for Serbia, and Fajon, Chair of the EP Delegation for the country as quoted by EWB on Monday.
According to them, the lowest turnout since 2000 and the dramatic change in the political landscape in the composition of the new Parliament, where a two-thirds majority will be held by one political list, will present the future Serbian Government an important challenge.
In the meantime shadow rapporteur for Serbia from the Greens/EFA group in the European parliament Viola von Cramon-Taubadel was of the opinion that it has become clear that Serbian elections have not reached the basic democratic standards.
“The ruling party has been using state resources as its own; the media landscape did not allow a real debate, harassment and intimidation of opposition politicians did not make it possible to have free and fair elections. The boycott caused a situation where the winner was clear before the elections even started”, von Cramon-Taubadel stated in a press release quoted by EWB.
She added that the European Union has not raised its concerns in the past years and “we let this democratic backsliding happen in Serbia”.
“High-ranking politicians from the European Peoples’ Party have been even actively supporting Mr. Vučić and they praised him for his work”, highlighted von Cramon-Taubadel./
The preliminary results forecast that the governing coalition will have over 220 seats out of the 250, with only one opposition party and some minority lists being present in the Serbian Parliament./argumentum.al
