Vucic's victory in Serbia confirmed in polls

The partial official results of the presidential elections held on Sunday in Serbia confirm that the populist Aleksandar Vucic has been re-elected as head of state with a comfortable absolute majority.

Of the 92.4% of votes counted so far, Vucic obtained 59.2%, a percentage that makes a second round of these elections unnecessary, according to data published on Monday by the Electoral Commission (RIK).

In second place was retired general Zdravko Ponos, candidate of the opposition coalition United for the Victory of Serbia, with 17.8% of the votes.

In the parliamentary elections also held yesterday, Vucic's populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won 121 of the 250 seats in parliament after 92% of the votes were counted.

The United for Victory of Serbia, which brings together a dozen pro-European and centrist parties and groups, won 37 seats, while the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), SNS's partner in power since 2012, won 32.

The conservative Eurosceptic NADA coalition (14 seats), the opposition left-wing environmentalist Moramo alliance (12), two right-wing and pro-Russian parties, Dveri and Zavetnici, with 10 MPs each, and five each from the Hungarian, Muslim, Croat and Albanian minorities also entered the chamber.

Despite his landslide victory, Vucic's ruling party will face a larger opposition presence in parliament than in the past two years, as in 2020 most opposition parties boycotted the elections in protest against the president, whom they accuse of authoritarianism.

Some 6.5 million eligible citizens were called to the polls to elect the new parliament from among 19 parties and coalitions, and the new head of state from among eight candidates.

Simultaneously, municipal elections were held in Belgrade and 13 other cities.

The turnout was 58.5%, one of the highest percentages in more than a decade.