Sawt Falasteen - Serbia opposition buoyed as Europe heeds protests over elections

Thousands gathered late Tuesday in the capital Belgrade to celebrate the news that the European Parliament will discuss the situation in Serbia Wednesday after President Vucic's party won controversial landslide victories in parliamentary and local elections on December 17.

"We have achieved our objective, and today Europe and the whole world know that we caught the thieves in the act," Marinika Tepic of the opposition "Serbia against violence" (SPN) coalition told the crowds Tuesday.

The SPN got just 23.66 percent of the vote in the parliamentary poll, with Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) taking 46.75 percent.

But international observers -- including the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) -- reported "irregularities", including "vote buying" and "ballot box stuffing".

Their findings added to the backlash with thousands joining a string of protests that included an attempt to storm Belgrade's city hall.

The protests have done little to move Vucic, who has dismissed both the demonstrations and the debate in Strasbourg.

"I am interested in the session of the Serbian parliament" rather than the European Parliament, Vucic said over the weekend. "Any attempt on their part to influence the decisions of the Serbian administration will be doomed to failure."

- Legal battles -

By law, the Serbian parliament must have its first session by mid-February, with the SNS holding an absolute majority of 129 seats to the SPN's 65.

The opposition has suggested they may resign en masse -- however, no formal plan has been tabled just yet.

They have zeroed in on accusations that the government allowed unregistered voters from neighbouring Bosnia to cast ballots illegally in the capital, allegedly tipping the results in several tight municipal races.

"We are talking here about an operation which must have cost hundreds of thousands of euros," said Rasa Nedeljkov of the Belgrade-based Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability.

Despite hopes that the debate in the European Parliament may pile pressure on Vucic, the opposition appear to have few options to challenge the election results.

A court on Tuesday rejected a complaint against alleged election fraud filed by Miodrag Gavrilovic, a Serbian MP and vice-president of the Democratic Party, which is a member of the SNP coalition.

According to several lawyers, legal appeals are unlikely to make much headway in a system largely controlled by Vucic's party and its allies.

"It remains to be seen what the Constitutional Court will say, but if we exhaust all legal mechanisms without result, then we will be able to conclude that we are no longer a pseudo-democracy, but rather an autocracy," constitutional law professor Tanasije Marinkovic told local media.

The SPN movement was formed in the wake of back-to-back mass shootings last year, which spurred hundreds of thousands to take to the streets in rallies that morphed into anti-government protests that lasted several months.

Vucic has vowed that nothing will change the results.

"The elections are over," the president said Friday.

As for the protests, Vucic said he had no problem with the rallies, "as long as they don't beat up anyone and don't enter the institutions."

W.AbuLaban--SF-PST