Serbia - SNS seeks to capitalise on its election results The Serbian political scene is adapting to the new reality following March 16 parliamentary elections. It is confirmed that the SNS and its coalition partners took an extraordinary 158 of 250 seats in the Republican parliament. However, elections were held at the local level in some places too including Belgrade. The SNSs dominance was repeated in almost every vote. Since coming to power in 2012 as part of a coalition government a key priority of the SNS has been taking power. It not only managed to gain the upper hand within the aforementioned governing coalition with a reshuffle last summer but was able to do so in many of Serbias key cities too. A major political battle was fought for control in the local assemblies in Novi Sad and Belgrade (with the removal of Dragan Djilas as Mayor in September). Resulting early elections in Belgrade held alongside parliamentary elections this month gave the SNS a convincing 63 of 110 seats. However, the wider battle continues. The SNS is using its results in general elections to argue for change in local assemblies in places that have so far held out against its charge. Kraguljevac is one example but the key prize is the provincial assemby in Vojvodina. The DS/LSV/SVM coalition there would now appear to be under threat with increasing calls for early elections as the SNS dominated the parliamentary vote there too.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 07:53:55 +0000