A total of 618 out of 1.089 voters with the right to vote voted in Veliki Trnovac, i.e. 56,7 percent, which is less than in the previously repeated vote, when the turnout was 64 percent.
This is the third time elections have been held at a polling station not far from Bujanovac.
After it became clear that after the repeat elections, the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) would lose one mandate, and the Coalition of Albanians of the Valley led by Šaip Kamberi would still pass the census, the SPS lodged an objection and requested a repeat election due to election irregularities.
However, it is not one mandate that SPS wanted the most. Repeating the elections in the vicinity of Bujanovac became an alibi for the deliberate delay in the negotiations regarding the formation of the Government. Although it won the most votes in the parliamentary elections, Aleksandar Vučić's Serbian Progressive Party is struggling because for the first time since 2014, it cannot form a government by itself. The situation in Ukraine and the introduction of sanctions against Russia, which the EU does not hide that it expects from Serbia, the place of the SPS in the new government has become increasingly uncertain.
Because of all this, the editor of Bujanovački Nikola Lazić tells the "Vremena" portal that the impression is that Albanians from this part of Serbia were found as "scapegoats" of high politics and calculations regarding the formation of the Government. He assessed that it is unfair to the Coalition of Albanians of the Valley, who have been in a constant campaign for three months and who have repeatedly shown that they are "motivated to be part of the institutions of the Republic of Serbia".
"This is mistreatment and degradation of citizens." The coalition led by Shaip Kamberi showed great enthusiasm and interest in the electoral process, they care about being part of the National Assembly. It's about one mandate, and it's a matter of principle - people stick to themselves". Lazić believes that this is the end of the election, although the repetition could last indefinitely.
He assesses that the repetition of the election is also a form of "strictness training" for the Albanians from this part of Serbia, who have shown the will to fight for their rights in the Assembly. He adds that it is more than clear that this polling station was used only as an argument for prolonging the formation of the Government, because "one mandate for Dačić should not mean anything".
"However, I believe that after today's vote, this agony and farce has come to an end." "Unfortunately, it is a bad message for democracy in Serbia that Albanians will not have a well-deserved place in the Parliament in which they want to participate," concludes Lazić.
If this is the last time that the elections in this place are repeated, the law says that the REC is obliged to distribute the parliamentary mandates no later than ten days after the announcement of the final results. After that, within 30 days, the President of the National Assembly from the previous convocation is obliged to convene a constituent session of the National Assembly, where the distributed mandates are verified. The parliamentary parties will have a maximum of 90 days to reach an agreement on the formation of a new Government.
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