Parliamentary vote in Serbia scheduled

BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbia’s president has set June 21 as the date of a parliamentary election that has been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday that “after these difficult times we have to create a democratic atmosphere and select an assembly and government that will serve in the interest of the people.”

Vucic has announced that the emergency measures will be lifted later this week because the rate of coronavirus infections has decreased sufficiently in the Balkan country.

Analysts believe Vucic, a former ultra-nationalist, is keen to have the vote as soon as possible because of his apparently declining popularity due to harsh lockdown measures his government has implemented.

Most of the democratic opposition parties plan to boycott the vote because of Vucic’s firm control of media and the electoral process.

Vucic’s right-wing Serbian Progressive party is expected to emerge as an overwhelming winner of the vote and continue its eight years of dominance of the Serbian political scene.

(AP/Darko Vojinovic) A woman bangs a pot with a spoon Monday on a balcony in Belgrade, Serbia. Activists have been holding protests from windows and balconies, banging on pots and blowing whistles in opposition to Serbia’s populist leadership.