Serbia's Ruling Party Wins Belgrade, Other Cities

After counting more than 92 per cent of the vote, the right-wing populist SNS é backed by Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq é received 52.85 per cent of the vote in Sunday's election, Belgrade City Election Commission (GIK) said.

That result will give her 64 mandates in the 110-seat municipal assembly of the Serbian capital, according to GIC.

SNS's closest contender, “Kreni-Promeni”, meaning “Move-Edit”, led by Savo Manojlovic, came in second with 17.61 per cent of the vote, or 21 mandates, GIK said.

Parliamentary and local elections in Serbia were held last December, but their results were contested in 88 cities, municipalities and districts, where they were repeated on 2 June.

In most of them, including Serbia's second largest city, Novi Sad, won the SNS.

However, organisations that monitored the elections reported on a series of irregularities, including vote buying or double voter registration.

Manojlovic said his coalition would not recognise the results.

“These were the most irregular elections ever”, he told supporters.

Serbia is a candidate for joining the EU in 2012, but its progress towards the bloc seems slow. /rel/