Serbia holds the elections today: Albanians there have been urged to vote, Serbs in Kosovo travel to vote

Voter rights have about 6.5 million people who can exploit their right from seven o'clock to 8:00.

Open will be 8,273 polling stations.

These are the fifth elections to be organised in Serbia since 2012, and held only 18 months after organising the last election process.

Sunday's elections will be monitored by 5,587 local and foreign observers, record numbers of observers, compared to elections held so far.

The elections have been prompted by the public's growing anger for this year's massive shooting and continued opposition demand for new election processes.

The two mass shooting attacks of May, which have left 18 people dead, including nine students and teenagers, have resulted in street protests for weeks.

Opposition parties, and human rights observers, accuse the ruling party -- Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of the current president, Aleksandar Vuciq -- of restricting media freedom, supporting violence against opponents, corruption, and links to organised crime.

Vucinac, and the Allies, reject these charges.

Some public polls draw Vuciki's party as the winner of the elections, in the second row opposition party coalition, and third, former Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic's Socialist Party, which is a coalition partner with the SNS.

Serbs in Kosovo to travel to vote

Kosovo Serbs will only vote for Serbia's Parliament.

They will have to travel towards Serbia to exploit their right, as the election process will not take place in Kosovo, compared to years ago.

They will vote in four towns south of Serbia in Vranje, Kursumli, Raska and Tutti.

The Kosovo government has demanded that Serbia's state make a direct request for holding elections, but official Belgrade has not done so since it does not recognise Kosovo's citizenship.

The last parliamentary elections, which Serbia has also organised for the Serb community in Kosovo, have been those on 21 June 2020.

Those elections are held according to an earlier practice, where the mission in Kosovo of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSBE) has collected votes. Those votes, later, have been counted in Rashka and Vranje, two border towns in Serbia.

Calls to Albanians in Serbia

Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi has called on Albanians in the Presevo Valley to vote in the parliamentary elections in Serbia, saying that Serbia's “project for silence of the Albanian voice must face resistance and non-signure”.

Valley Albanians compete this time with two lists.

In the past parliamentary composition, Shaip Kamberi has been the only representative of the Albanian community. / REL/