Voters of Serbia are casting ballots in the presidential election on Sunday to choose a successor to their departing one-term President, Tomislav Nikolic.
Polling stations are open from 7 am to 8 pm CET (GMT+2), and the preliminary results are expected to be published by the State Election Commission, RIK, a few hours after polls close. Read more: Serbs Head out to Vote for New President
The number of people entitled to vote is 6,724,949. Voters may cast ballots at 8,523 polling stations.
Voting will also take place at 90 polling stations in Kosovo and at 53 polling stations in 23 other foreign countries.
According to Ispos Strategic Marketing between 56.2 and 60.4 of electoral is expected to vote on Sunday’s presidential elections.
In 2012, Serbia’s president was elected in the second round of voting.
Out of 12 candidates, Boris Tadic of the Democratic Party (a former president who served two terms, from 2004 until 2012) and Tomislav Nikolic, head of the Serbian Progressive Party, garnered the most votes in the first round.
Candidate Vuk Jeremic said today that the elections are important for Serbia and that he hopes it will be significant step towards changing the country.
“I hope people will vote in large numbers, that they will vote for change, and that while voting for changes they think about the second round and who is the one who can bring about that change easily,” said Jeremic this morning.
Candidate for the nationalist Serbian Radical Party, Vojislav Seselj, told reporters he hopes he will make it through to the second round, in which he expects a “fierce clash” with ruling party candidate Aleksandar Vucic.
“I am happy in advance for that clash. I believe that Aleksandar Vucic will not be able to avoid a TV debate, like he has for the past two and a half years,” said Seselj.
Asked to comment on rumours he is actually Vucic’s man, he said only: “How can I be his man when I am older than he 16 years?”
Nenad Canak, presidential candidate and leader of the League of Social Democrats of
Vojvodina, LSV, told reporters he believed the elections would be fair and that
voters will be able to freely express their will.
“I hope the elections go on in a fair atmosphere, unlike the campaign. The
campaign was very difficult, and I hope that citizens will freely express their
will at the polling stations,” Canak said.
The State Electoral Commission, RIK, has denied that an opposition party leader, Velimir Ilic, was not listed in the register of voters. Ilic previously said he was prevented from voting because his name was not registered.
RIK president Vladimir Dimitrijevic said that the Commission checked with the Ministry of State Administration and Local Government, and found that Ilic was in fact registered.
Ilic, whose Nova Srbija party endorsed opposition candidate Vuk Jeremic, was until recently part of the ruling majority led by Aleksandar Vucic’s Progressive Party. He left the coalition after he was denied the post of general manager in the state-owned Koridori Srbije road construction company.
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