“Thank you all. The score is 10-0. Thank you, Serbia, for the enormous trust.”
With those words, President Aleksandar Vucic declared victory at Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) headquarters after local votes in 10 municipalities where 247,985 citizens were eligible to cast ballots. On paper, SNS swept the contests, extending its record of electoral dominance. In practice, the picture was more complex — and potentially troubling for the ruling party.
Long-standing concerns flagged by international observers again cast a shadow over the vote: dominant pro-government media, use of state resources for campaigning, and “functionary campaigning” in which public servants leveraged their positions to back SNS, blurring lines between party and state. Election day repeated familiar irregularities: allegations of vote-buying, voter pressure, parallel voter lists and the so-called “Bulgarian train” tactic of supplying pre-filled ballots. Observers reported compromised ballot secrecy, organized transport of voters and systematic tracking of turnout — all signs of coordinated attempts to influence results.
This time, however, incidents escalated. Rasa Nedeljkov, head of the independent Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability’s (CRTA) observation mission, said documenting or opposing illegal practices met with force: “What happens when someone tries to document vote-buying or stop illegal activities? Batons come into play.” Multiple municipalities saw organized groups on the ground. Masked men wielding sticks — and in some reports axes — chased citizens, attacked journalists and confronted observers trying to record irregularities. By day’s end, there were injuries, hospitalized reporters and beaten observers.
CRTA described election day as “terror against citizens,” noting the coordination and resources behind the violence suggested political backing. Observers said individuals involved in attacks were seen entering or leaving party premises and public institutions. The incidents were at times reframed by officials and pro-government media: parliament speaker Ana Brnabic shared footage of men in black confronting protesters, calling it “an attempt to defend democracy from the blockaders.” Police presence often appeared insufficient or delayed, reinforcing perceptions of weak institutional control.
Despite this pressure, SNS’s victories were narrower than usual. Several wins were decided by razor-thin margins — sometimes only a few hundred votes — in municipalities where the party had previously enjoyed comfortable leads. Dusan Spasojevic, a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, noted that in at least three or four places victory came down to one or two seats, forcing SNS to rely on coalition partners — a dynamic unfamiliar to the party and potentially worrying.
While these results do not yet mark a decisive turning point, they indicate emerging cracks in what long looked like an unassailable system. Analysts say the key for opponents will be coordination among political parties, the student movement and civil society. For Nedeljkov and other observers, the priority remains pushing for fair electoral conditions: abandoning elections would risk normalizing the abuses seen in these ten municipalities.
For now, the ruling party can claim a clean sweep. Attention is already shifting, though, to what comes next: the prospect of early parliamentary elections, which parts of the opposition view as the next — and perhaps decisive — test of strength.
Edited by: Astrid Benölken, Ruairi Casey