Serbia Opposition Takes to Streets Claiming Election Fraud

Serbian opposition groups alleged electoral fraud at weekend polls after the latest results showed a far-right DSS-Dveri coalition has been excluded from parliament.

The leaders of the coalition, supported by other three opposition parties, called a protest for Saturday to be held in front of the Electoral Commission in Belgrade.

With 99.45 percent of ballots counted, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, has won nearly 50 percent of the vote, giving it at least 138 seats in the 250-member parliament.

But the Dveri-DSS coalition, which according to earlier results had achieved the five-percent threshold needed for parliamentary representation, has now been now excluded from the assembly.

Later results instead put the far-right coalition on 4.99 percent of the vote, reportedly just one vote under the threshold, meaning Vucic's SNS will benefit with more seats.

"Today this happened to Dveri-DSS... tomorrow it can happen to any political party," DSS leader Sanda Raskovic-Ivic told reporters.

"When the country is led towards an authoritarian regime... anything can be expected," she said.

Leader of the opposition Democratic Party Bojan Pajtic called on Friday on the party's members and supporters to vote for the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS)- Dveri coalition at the 15 polling stations where voting will be repeated on May 4.

In terms of its policy and program, the DS does not agree with the DSS and Dveri on many issues, he said.

"However, the (DSS-Dveri) list cannot be below the threshold," Pajtic said, adding this would be "a failure of democracy and freedom" and "a victory for the dictatorship".

On Thursday, the opposition claimed they had...