BELGRADE (Serbia), April 4 (SeeNews) – Serbia's government said on Tuesday that based on the ballots cast in 95.52% of the polling stations, prime minister Aleksandar Vucic won 55.04% of the votes in the first round of the presidential election on Sunday.
Vucic, who is the leader of the conservative Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), was backed by 1.925 million voters out of 3,498,647 who went to the polls, a turnout of 54.61%, election commission president Vladimir Dimitrijevic said, as quoted in a statement by the government.
He was followed by Serbia's ombudsman Sasa Jankovic with 16.33%, or 571,155 votes. Luka Maksimovic, a student in political sciences nominated by a group of citizens, was third with 9.43%, or 329,860 votes.
Vuk Jeremic, who served as Serbia's foreign minister between 2007 and 2012, and the leader of nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) Vojislav Seselj were supported by 5.65% and 4.51%, respectively.
Final election results should be announced within 96 hours after the closing of polling stations on Sunday at 20:00 CET, the government said.
"This is an important day as it showed the way Serbia wishes to go, it is important that the victory is crystal-clear as the gap is not small," Vucic told a news conference late on Sunday, as quoted in a statement published on his party's website.
The new government will be formed in the coming two months, by the end of May, when the mandate of incumbent president Tomislav Nikolic expires, Vucic added.
Serbia is run by a coalition government of the SNS and the Socialist SPS party.
Vucic has been prime minister of Serbia since April 27, 2014. Between July 2012 and April 2014, he was deputy prime minister in the government of incumbent foreign minister Ivica Dacic.