The results of Serbia's presidential and parliamentary elections show that Aleksandar Vucic and his Serbian Progressive Party (SPP) have won convincing victories.

In a joint forecast, election observer CeSID and the sociological organization Ipsos predict that Vucic will win a second five-year term as president, receiving almost 60% of the vote.

At the same time, the Progressive Party will maintain its dominant role in the National Assembly, securing more than 40% of the vote.

Assuming that they form their usual coalition with the Socialist Party, they should have a comfortable ruling majority.

Alexander Vucic said he was “proud” of the “great support of the people” and described his campaign as “the cleanest and most beautiful in Serbia's history”.

He named continuing Serbia's modernization, attracting foreign investment and ensuring peace and stability as priorities for his second term. He noted that he would seek to maintain Belgrade's traditional ties with Moscow, despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while continuing EU membership talks.

“Good relations in the region are the most important thing, but also not to break ties with traditional friends,” he said.

Opposition parties will remain bitterly disappointed with the results. They boycotted the previous parliamentary elections in 2020, arguing that the government's influence on the media had made it impossible to hold a free and fair vote. Their absence only allowed the Progressive Party to rule without resistance.

So this time, a wide range of parties formed a coalition, United Serbia, to offer voters a credible alternative. They nominated former General Zdravko Ponos as their presidential candidate and hoped he would at least force Vucic to run in the second round. But he failed - less than 20% of the vote.

Now United Serbia will form the second-largest bloc in the National Assembly, where they will be joined by the new left-green Moramo movement. One of the most prominent members of the latter, environmentalist Alexander Jovanovic, questioned why the National Electoral Commission had not published preliminary results. He called on his supporters to “defend every vote on the street” if there is evidence of voting irregularities. Jovanovic said the Environmental Uprising campaign would continue its protests against environmental pollution and lithium mining in Serbia - both topics became topical before the start of the war in Ukraine.

The election commission will publish the official results Monday night. But it now seems clear that Serbs have chosen the “peace and stability” that Vucic promised he and his party would guarantee.

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