Vozdovac Election Results Are In

By: Milen Vesovic
Belgrade, Dec.8th, 2009 (Serbia Today) - According to the final results of the Municipal Election Commission of Vozdovac, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of Tomislav Nikolic, has won.
A total of 37% of the voters cast a ballet for SNS, while the coalition "For European Vozdovac" received 28% of the vote. Members of the New Serbia party (DSS-NS) garnered 8.57% of the votes to receive six councilors, and the SPS-PUPS-JS coalition (Socialist Party-United Party of Serbian Pensioners-United Serbia Party) received 6.54% of the vote and won four seats.SNS leader Nikolic expressed some frustration despite the fact that his party won in the re-election.
“The residents of Vozdovac decided to move ahead together with SNS and take their lives into their own hands. We want to tell Serbia that this is what the next [general] elections will look like,” Nikolic said, calling on the government to “stop repeating elections in which SNS won, because they will experience an even more convincing loss,” reported Serbian news service B92.The two city-council seats were won by the G17, the Liberal Democratic Party and Democratic Party of Serbia and citizens' groups "For a Better Future."
Given that none of the parties received an absolute majority, the government will need to form the same coalition of parties that operate on the state level. This coalition will consist of the SPS, DS, G17 Plus and SPO.DS City Board President and Belgrade Mayor Dragan Djilas expressed satisfaction that the residents of Vozdovac have had an opportunity to better shape their representation in the re-election, despite the fact that his party did not win.“The coalition that was in power obviously did not meet the expectations of the people of Vozdovac. And that is a fact that every party that participated in the government should learn from,” said Djilas to Serbian news service B92.
“As far as DS is concerned, we will continue to fight for the values and goals which the citizens trusted us to fight for. I think all voters that voted for us in such big numbers,” Djilas added.Vozdovac is a large suburb of Belgrade, and the results of this election are seen as an indication of prevailing popularity of the political parties in this part of Serbia. Some observers see the results as a bell-weather for the upcoming general elections in Serbia.