Irregularities at Polling Places in Belgrade, Nis, Violence in Novi Sad

Voting in Serbia (BetaPhoto/Milos Miskov)

The Center for Free and Democratic Elections (CESID) has announced that, between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., its observers noted irregularities in local elections in Belgrade and Nis.

In a post on its website, CESID said that, in two polling places in Nis, voters were unable to vote due to a voting council error. According to the post, observers also noticed "suspected parallel voting records in one polling station in Palilula," Belgrade. The irregularities include "casting ballots into the wrong box in multiple polling stations," "failure to follow voting procedure," "entering voters' names into the wrong area of the voting roster" and the "photographing of ballots by voters."

The Serbian Interior Ministry said in a press release that there were attacks on police and destruction of property belonging to the Novi Sad Fair in the course of voting. Serbian Progressive Party activists pepper sprayed journalists, opposition activists and citizens at the Novi Sad Fair. Previously, a group of people broke through the doors of a hall of the Fair housing a Serbian Progressive Party call center.

The Novi Sad chapter of the Serbian Progressive Party said in a press release that the party's call center at the Novi Sad Fair was "brutally attacked by a group of persons who executed a destructive attack on the property of the Novi Sad Fair at 1 p.m." Milos Tubic, who heads a ticket of 12 united opposition parties and movements titled, "United for a Free Novi Sad," said one of the halls of the Novi Sad Fair was used as "the Serbian Progressive Party's largest logistics center for vote buying" but had "just closed."