“Thank you all. The score is 10-0. Thank you, Serbia, for the enormous trust.”
With those words, President Aleksandar Vucic announced victory Sunday night at Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) headquarters after local elections in 10 municipalities. Some 247,985 citizens were eligible to vote. On paper, SNS won everywhere — extending its record of dominance — but the reality was messier and potentially more worrying for the ruling party.
Longstanding concerns again shadowed the vote: overwhelming media dominance by the ruling party, use of state resources in campaigning, and “functionary campaigning” where public officials used their positions to benefit SNS, blurring party and state. Election day saw familiar irregularities: allegations of vote-buying, pressure on voters, parallel voter lists and so-called “Bulgarian train” schemes supplying pre-filled ballots. Observers reported compromised ballot secrecy, organized voter transport and systematic turnout tracking — signs of coordinated efforts to influence results.
This time, however, the scale and intensity escalated. “What happens when someone tries to document vote-buying or stop illegal activities? Batons come into play,” said Rasa Nedeljkov, head of the independent CRTA election observation mission. Organized groups operated on the ground: masked men with sticks — and in some instances axes — chased citizens, attacked journalists and confronted observers trying to document irregularities. By day’s end there were injured people, hospitalized reporters and beaten observers.
CRTA judged election day to be “terror against citizens.” Nedeljkov and others said the incidents looked coordinated, pointing to people involved in violence entering or leaving party premises and public institutions. In some cases officials and pro-government media reframed the violence: Serbia’s parliament speaker Ana Brnabic posted footage of men in black chasing citizens and called it “an attempt to defend democracy from the blockaders.” Police presence often did little to defuse tensions; responses appeared insufficient or delayed, reinforcing a sense of limited institutional control.
Despite the pressure, SNS victories were notably narrower than in past contests. In several municipalities wins were decided by razor-thin margins — sometimes only a few hundred votes — and in at least three or four places the outcome depended on one or two seats. For a party used to comfortable leads, these results stand out and suggest support may be eroding. “These are smaller municipalities where SNS has traditionally been very strong. And yet, in at least three or four of them, the victory came down to one or two seats,” said Dusan Spasojevic, a political science professor in Belgrade. In some councils SNS will now need coalition partners — a new reality that could trouble the party.
While it is too early to call a decisive turning point, the outcomes point to emerging cracks in a system long viewed as unassailable. Observers and analysts highlight the need for coordination among opposition parties, the student movement and civil society to build on these shifts. For Nedeljkov, the priority remains fighting for fair electoral conditions: “For those who believe nothing can be achieved through elections, the opposite is true. If we give up, what we witnessed in these ten municipalities will become the rule, not an exception that demands condemnation and collective action.”
For now, SNS can claim a clean sweep. Attention is already shifting to what comes next: early parliamentary elections, widely seen by parts of the opposition as the next and potentially decisive test of strength.
Edited by: Astrid Benölken, Ruairi Casey