America intends to work with Serbia to strengthen democratic governance and the rule of regulation, guarantee regional stability, and speed up Serbia’s progress towards membership within the European Union, the State Division mentioned Tuesday.
“The long run for Serbia is with the European Union and with the USA. Not with Russia,” emphasised the official consultant of the overseas ministry.
The announcement got here after hundreds of individuals gathered in central Belgrade final Sunday to demand the annulment of the outcomes of every week in the past’s early parliamentary and native elections, which worldwide observers discovered had been unfair.
America welcomed the preliminary findings of the OSCE Workplace for Democratic Establishments and Human Rights (ODIHR) election commentary mission. Whereas noting that Serbian voters got political options within the December 17 elections, Washington expressed concern in regards to the ODIHR’s findings that the elections had been marked by quite a few procedural irregularities, stress on authorities officers and misuse of presidency sources.
In accordance with the ODIHR’s findings, these elements, together with the systemic benefit of the ruling occasion, created unfair electoral situations.
America “urge Serbia to work with the OSCE to handle these issues,” the State Division mentioned in a press release. “Claims of irregularities reported each by OSCE and different election commentary groups must be investigated.”
Allow us to recall that thirty-eight demonstrators had been detained throughout and after the protest that occurred in Serbia on Monday; eight law enforcement officials had been injured.
Demonstrators broke home windows within the metropolis corridor, after which police used pepper spray.
America condemned violence in opposition to election authorities, journalists and accredited observers and referred to as on events to report instances of election irregularities by means of acceptable authorized channels.
“The legitimacy of democratic processes is dependent upon transparency and the readiness of all events, whether or not winners or losers, to respect the desire of the folks expressed within the elections,” the State Division mentioned in a press release.
Serbian authorities say the elections had been honest.
The SNS obtained 46.72% of the votes in these elections. These preliminary outcomes had been introduced earlier by the state election fee. The opposition alliance ‘Serbia In opposition to Violence’ took second place within the elections (23.56%), and the Socialist Social gathering of Serbia got here third (6.56%).