European Parliament calls for an investigation into Serbia's December elections

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - The European Parliament adopted a resolution Thursday on Serbia that asked for an investigation into general and local elections held in December.

The resolution, which passed 461 - 53, asked the European Commission to send an expert mission to Serbia to assess the situation and lay the groundwork for talks to restore trust in institutions.

It also calls for the suspension of EU funding to Serbia if authorities are unwilling to implement key electoral recommendations.

The decisions by the EP are recommendations or calls to member countries and are not legally binding on member countries.

Snap local and general elections were held Dec. 17 in Serbia, after which thousands of residents in the capital protested the results for 13 straight days.

Demonstrators demanded the cancellation of the elections.

The opposition demanded that hundreds of people from the Republika Srpska (RS), one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, be taken to Belgrade by buses to vote in the polls and that the election should be canceled to eliminate the irregularity.

The State Election Commission (RIK) announced that objections made by the Serbia Against Violence coalition regarding the election were rejected.

- Elections are being repeated in more than 30 election centers

In line with the decision by the RIK, voting is being held Saturday in more than 30 election centers.

Three of the centers, where 19,543 registered voters again voted, are located in towns in Belgrade.

The commission also announced that voting would be held again in eight additional centers Jan. 2.

Media reports said results in places where elections were repeated will not change the general picture as more than 8,000 centers were opened during the elections in which more than 6.5 million voters cast ballots.

According to unofficial results announced by the Election Commission, the Aleksandar Vucic-Serbia Must Stop alliance, supported by President Aleksandar Vucic and led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which has been in power since 2012, finished ahead, receiving 46% of the vote.​​ ​​

The Serbia Against Violence alliance was second with 23%.