March 30 (SeeNews) - Serbia will hold regular presidential elections on Sunday, with prime minister Aleksandar Vucic expected to win by a large margin in the first round of the vote, the results of the latest poll by research agency Ipsos Strategic Marketing show.
Eleven candidates will run for president of the EU candidate country in the first round of the elections. If none of them wins absolute majority, the front-runner and the second-placed candidate will face each other in a run-off.
The president, a largely ceremonial post in Serbia, is elected for a five-year term. No one shall be elected president of Serbia more than twice.
The head of state has the right to return laws for reconsideration to the National Assembly and is also the commander-in-chief of the Serbian Armed Forces.
Vucic, the leader of conservative Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), is expected to win the race with 53% of the vote on April 2, according to a survey of 1,500 respondents conducted by research agency Ipsos Strategic Marketing between March 16 and 18.
Luka Maksimovic, a student in political sciences nominated by a group of citizens, is expected to come in a distant second with 11% support in the first round, the results of the survey showed. Maksimovic will run by the alias of Ljubisa Preletacevic - Beli, a fictional character who mocks the political establishment in Serbia.
Other contenders include Serbia's ombudsman Sasa Jankovic, also nominated by a group of citizens, and the leader of nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS), Vojislav Seselj, who receive 10.6% and 8.7% support in the survey, respectively
Vuk Jeremic, who served as Serbia's foreign minister between 2007 and 2012 and was President of the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly between September 2012 and September 2013, will run as an independent candidate.
Candidates are nominated by registered political parties, coalitions and groups of citizens if the application is signed by at least 10,000 voters and submitted to the electoral commission no later than 20 days before election day.
The term of office of incumbent president Tomislav Nikolic will expire on May 31. Nikolic won the presidential run-off in May 2012 with 51.12% of the vote against 48.88% for the incumbent leader of Serbian Social Democratic Party (SDS), Boris Tadic.
A total of 6,724,172 Serbian citizens are eligible to vote. According to the results of the latest census held in 2011, Serbia had a population of 7,186,862 people.
On the election day, polling stations will open at 0700 CET and close at 2000 CET.
In January, Vucic said he will step down from the position of prime minister if his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) loses the forthcoming presidential election.
"There is no doubt that a defeat in the presidential election does not necessarily mean the resignation of all ministers or a change in the structure of the political parties within the government but it will certainly mean my resignation," Vucic said.
Last month, Vucic explained there will be no need for snap parliamentary elections regardless of the results of the presidential vote. Serbia is "a stable democracy, a stable country, a very stable economy, which needs growth, seriousness and responsibility, and it also has a stable majority that is functioning in parliament," Vucic told public broadcaster Radio Televizija Srbije (RTS).
The next regular parliamentary elections in Serbia should be held in 2020.
Sources:
Serbian Republic Electoral Commission
Serbian Republic National Statistical Institute