Polling stations closed at 20:17 p.m., and the turnout in Belgrade fell by 11,5 percent compared to the December XNUMX election, according to preliminary data from the REC. The drop in turnout can be explained by the partial boycott of the opposition, again irregular election conditions, which led to the apathy of opposition voters.
Preliminary data on the website of the Republic Election Commission show that the turnout in the Belgrade elections was 46,6 percent, which is 11,5 percent less than the turnout in the previous elections held in December.
The CRTA observation mission announced that, according to its forecasts, turnout in the capital of Serbia will be 13,2 percent lower than in the elections in December. Crta says that according to their projections, the final turnout until the closing of all polling stations in Belgrade will be 200 to 250 thousand votes lower than in the local elections in December.
The co-president of the Green-Left Front, Radomir Lazović, assessed that the media's reporting had an effect on the turnout for the elections and stated that certain media "called for a boycott". He added that the boycott campaign in Belgrade caused confusion, and that the "We choose the fight" coalition was fighting on two fronts - against the SNS and their coalition partners from yesterday.
Who called for a boycott?
Part of the opposition boycotted today's elections: Dragan Đilas' Party of Freedom and Justice, Miloš Jovanović's New Democratic Party of Serbia and Zdravko Ponoš's Serbia Center Party.
Not only certain opposition parties called for a boycott. In the weeks before the elections, graffiti and flyers with the same message appeared on the streets of Belgrade and Novi Sad. However, it is still not clear who exactly is behind such graffiti, considering that in Novi Sad the opposition comes out united. That is why the opposition parties have announced that they suspect that the Serbian Progressive Party is behind this type of call for a boycott.
"Frightened by the fact that the entire opposition is going to the elections jointly and on one electoral list, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) organized graffiti on the streets of Novi Sad calling for a boycott", they say from this Novi Sad coalition, which is made up of members of the former coalition "Serbia against violence", NADA coalition, civil movement "Bravo" and LSV-Vojvodina.
The same graffiti appeared on the streets of Belgrade, and the opposition claims that the "handwriting" of the SNS can be seen in them as well. The president of the New DSS, Miloš Jovanović, said that he had never dealt with graffiti, and that he had written only one graffiti in his life.
"I don't live from politics, we deal with it very seriously, we think about it, we have a vision for this country, I don't deal with writing graffiti." That would be beneath my honor. I wrote a single graffiti when I was 12 or 13 years old, I wrote 'Shomi' or 'Milos PFK'. I don't do graffiti, I don't record myself on networks. I think it is frivolous, I appeal to citizens to start recognizing who does what and how. You can disagree with my political affiliation, but you can't dispute my consistency. "I have never dealt with graffiti and auto lacquer," said Jovanović, NIN reported.
Boycott affects turnout
When the major parties boycott the elections, their voters are left with two options - to give their vote to someone else or to follow the instructions of the party of which they are voters, and not to go to the polls themselves. The program director of CeSID, Ivo Čolović, said even before the election day that the turnout will be most affected by the fact that certain opposition parties are boycotting the elections.
"As far as other cities are concerned, there is confusion, who is running, where is running, for which elections." It will also influence the voters to make it more difficult to decide who they will support in these elections," said Čolović.
Čolović pointed out that for the first time SNS and SPS as members of the ruling coalition are participating in the pre-election coalition, and that this is a very significant indicator that they took these elections very seriously and that they want the best possible result.
Turnout is falling year by year
The low turnout cannot be explained only by the boycott of the opposition. The number of people who went to the elections at all levels is decreasing year by year, and it turned out that in Serbia it reached a historical maximum, as it turned out, already at the first vote for deputies. Relatively high turnout marked the election cycles until 2000, and after the five-year changes, more than four million voters voted only twice.
More than five million voters turned out for the first multiparty elections on December 9, 1990, which represents the highest turnout in the 33-year history of party pluralism in Serbia. In those elections, the only ones held under the majority system, 5.030.440 voters voted, which was 71,49 percent of the total of 7.036.303 registered voters.
What was the turnout during the day
At the beginning of the election day, it seemed that the turnout in the capital would be higher than in previous elections. By nine o'clock, 5,8 percent of Belgraders had gone to the polls, compared to 4,6 percent, which was the turnout in the same period in December.
By 11 a.m., that difference had narrowed, so at the second cut-off, turnout was 14,3 percent, compared to 13,6 percent of those who turned out at 11 a.m. in December. Three hours later, the trend of decreasing turnout continued, and by 14 p.m., 26,7 percent of voters had gone to the polls in the capital of Serbia, which is 3,9 percent less than in the previous elections.
The gap continued to widen until the cutoff at 17 p.m. At that moment, 34,8 percent of voters went to the elections in Belgrade today. That is even 10,3 percent less compared to the elections in December. At 19 pm, the turnout was 42,2 percent, 11,9 percent less than in the previous elections.
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