Serbia holds parliamentary elections amidst COVID-19 risk

Serbians started casting ballots on Sunday in the first national elections in the European continent since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the ruling Progressives and Socialists as the only party targeting double-digit results.

Regular parliamentary elections in Serbia, along with provincial elections in Vojvodina Province and local elections opened at 7 a.m. and will close at 8 p.m.

Members of election committees across 8,253 polling stations are obliged to wear masks and gloves in order to prevent the spread of the COVID-19, while voters are free to choose whether to use prevention or not.

Although the country has been daily confirming almost 100 new COVID-19 patients, health authorities assured Saturday that there is no reason to worry that the election process could complicate the epidemiological situation, advising voters to keep one-meter distance and spend less than 15 minutes inside the polling station.

Political parties and other entities submitted 21 lists which will compete to pass the 3 percent threshold, fill 250 MP seats and propose a new prime minister and government.

Most opinion polls agree that the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) led by the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic with nearly 60 percent support, and their ruling coalition partner Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) of Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic with over 12 percent support are looking to surpass their results from the 2016 elections.

The SNS-SPS coalition has been in power in Serbia since 2012, pursuing membership in the European Union (EU).

In total, 6,584,376 people are eligible to vote at the 12th parliamentary elections since the establishment of the multi-party system in Serbia, which were previously scheduled for April 26 but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Besides 3,341 domestic observers, the election process is monitored by 111 international observers, including the eight-strong mission of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and six-strong mission of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organization (ENEMO).

Serbia’s Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) is obliged to deliver final results within 96 hours once voting ends, while preliminary results will be published hours after polling stations close.