April 1 (SeeNews) - Serbia will hold on Sunday regular presidential elections along with early general elections, with incumbent president Aleksandar Vucic and the ruling coalition led by his populist conservative Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, expected to win.
Vucic, who has been dominating the Serbian political scene in the past decade, called the snap vote less than two years after SNS won regular parliamentary elections boycotted by the opposition in what is largely seen as a move to cement his power.
The elections come amid heightened economic risks from the war in Ukraine, accusations of corruption and authoritarianism by the opposition and independent watchdogs, and growing pressure from environmentalists.
However, all polls show the SNS-led coalition will win the majority of votes, while Vucic is expected to win the presidential race in the first round.
The latest opinion polls, conducted by polling agencies The Third New Way and Faktor Plus, put voter support for the SNS-led coalition at between 44.7% and 53.6%, respectively. The list led by SNS' coalition partner, Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), has support of between 5.7% and 10.2% of the voters, the two polls showed.
Regarding the main opposition parties, the list United for Serbia's Victory, comprising the Party of Freedom and Jutice (SSP), People's Party (NS) and Democratic Party (DS), was supported by between 13.7% and 20.1% of the respondents, while We Must - a coalition of green parties, has 4.7%-7.8% support.
The polls suggested that two right-wing lists, named Hope for Serbia and Serb Party Oathkeepers, will cross the 3% threshold for entry into parliament. A Faktor Plus poll saw the list Sovereignists as winning 3.1% of the vote as well.
Support for Vucic is between 51.7% of the voters, as seen by The New Third Way, and 60% of the voters, according to the Institute for European Affairs and polling agency Ninamedia. According to the two surveys, retired army general Zdravko Ponos, will come second with between 18% and 27.8%.
A total of 19 parties and coalitions are running for 250 seats in parliament, while eight candidates will run for president of the EU candidate country in the first round of the elections. If none of the presidential candidates wins absolute majority, the front-runner and the second-placed candidate will face each other in a run-off.
A coalition led by the SNS has 188 MPs in the country's 250-seat parliament after it won 60.65% of the votes in the general elections held in July 2020.
Following are key facts about the Serbian political system:
Serbian MPs are elected for a four-year term.
The country has a proportional representation system, i.e. the number of seats won by a party or coalition is proportionate to the number of votes received in the elections. Voters vote for a list of candidates, with the party choosing the order of candidates on the list and thus, in effect, their probability of being elected.
Each list can include no more than 250 candidates, equal to the number of seats at the parliament.
To secure representation, a party or a coalition needs to collect at least 3.0% of all valid ballots cast. However, this threshold does not apply to ethnic minority lists. The threshold for entry into parliament was brought down from 5% to 3% in early 2020.
On the election day, polling stations open at 07:00 CET and close at 20:00 CET.
The Electoral Commission will announce the results of the election within 96 hours after polling stations close.
The president is a largely ceremonial post in Serbia, and is elected for a five-year term. No one can serve as 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 during war.