The United States intends to work with Serbia to strengthen democratic governance and the rule of law, ensure regional stability, and accelerate Serbia’s progress toward membership in the European Union, the State Department said Tuesday.
“The future for Serbia is with the European Union and with the United States. Not with Russia,” emphasized the official representative of the foreign ministry.
The announcement came after thousands of people gathered in central Belgrade last Sunday to demand the annulment of the results of a week ago’s early parliamentary and local elections, which international observers found were unfair.
The United States welcomed the preliminary findings of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) election observation mission. While noting that Serbian voters were given political alternatives in the December 17 elections, Washington expressed concern about the ODIHR’s findings that the elections were marked by numerous procedural irregularities, pressure on government officials and misuse of government resources.
According to the ODIHR’s findings, these factors, along with the systemic advantage of the ruling party, created unfair electoral conditions.
The United States “urge Serbia to work with the OSCE to address these concerns,” the State Department said in a statement. “Claims of irregularities reported both by OSCE and other election observation teams should be investigated.”
Let us recall that thirty-eight demonstrators were detained during and after the protest that took place in Serbia on Monday; eight police officers were injured.
Demonstrators broke windows in the city hall, after which police used pepper spray.
The United States condemned violence against election authorities, journalists and accredited observers and called on parties to report cases of election irregularities through appropriate legal channels.
“The legitimacy of democratic processes depends on transparency and the readiness of all parties, whether winners or losers, to respect the will of the people expressed in the elections,” the State Department said in a statement.
Serbian authorities say the elections were fair.
The SNS received 46.72% of the votes in these elections. These preliminary results were announced earlier by the state election commission. The opposition alliance ‘Serbia Against Violence’ took second place in the elections (23.56%), and the Socialist Party of Serbia came third (6.56%).
