Serbia’s PM seeks mandate for EU talks through election
Serbians take to the polls in what is being seen as a de facto referendum on whether Serbia should pursue EU membership
Serbian Prime Minister and leader of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) Aleksandar Vucic
Polls have opened in Serbia in a parliamentary election seen as a de facto referendum on whether the country should seek EU membership.
Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic called the vote two years after his conservative Progressive Party won a landslide election victory, propelling him into office.
The former hardline nationalist, who converted to EU-friendly policies in 2008, wants a clear mandate from Serbia's electorate for reforms to complete EU membership talks launched in December.
Both EU rules and a €1.2 billion euro loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund oblige Vucic to privatize or downsize big loss-making state-run companies, potentially throwing thousands of people out of work.
"We want to complete the process of privatization, speed up private investments and above all to spur the entrepreneurial spirit of the people," Vucic told Reuters in an interview this week.
Opinion polls suggest Vucic's party is on track to win 48% of the vote - about the same share of the vote it won two years ago - giving him another absolute majority in parliament.
It is expected that he will continue a coalition with the second-biggest party, the Socialists, even though he does not need to, so as to broaden his base.
However, whereas until now there has been a broad consensus in parliament in favour of EU membership, Sunday's election looks likely to bring a return to parliament of ultra-nationalists who oppose EU membership and favour closer ties with Russia.
Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj, whose popularity has been boosted by his recent acquittal of crimes against humanity at the UN war crimes tribunal at The hague, could emerge as the effective opposition leader.
His Radicals are tipped to become the third largest party, returning to parliament for the first time since 2012.
They may complicate Serbia's EU membership talks by resisting concessions, such as ending Serbia's constitutional claim to sovereignty over Kosovo.
Critics of Vucic, who was information minister during the final years of late President Slobodan Milosevic's rule, say his government is increasingly autocratic and has stifled media freedom.
Polls open at 7 a.m.and close at 8 p.m, with first estimates of the outcome by private pollsters expected about an hour later.
