The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) spoke out first following the vote at Sunday’s local elections to claim victory in all but 4 of the cities and municipalities where votes were cast.

SNS leader, Prime Minister Milos Vucevic told a news conference that the ruling party claimed victory in all but 4 municipalities, all of them with majority national minority populations. According to him, the SNS lost in Backa Topola, Senta and Kanjiza in the norther Vojvodina province, all 3 municipalities with majority ethnic Hungarian populations who traditionally vote for the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM) and other ethnic Hungarian parties. He said the party also lost in Tutin where the majority population is Bosniak and vote for their local Bosniak/Muslim parties.

The SNS leader said that the party scored “a clear and convincing victory” at the country-wide local elections.

Traditionally, the SNS, as the strongest individual party, addresses the media first after polling stations close.

Vucic told reporters at the SNS headquarters that the pressure over elections at all levels had been ongoing for more than a year. He claimed the SNS scored its most convincing victory in Novi Sad adding that the most difficult competition was in Nis. He also claimed that the so-called call centers set up by the SNS were not illegal and were normal practice in every democratic country.

Vucevic said that the turnout varied from a low of about 33 percent to a high of some 70 percent. The SNS election ticket bears the name of President Aleksandar Vucic, an election tradition that was criticized by international observers following the mid-December parliamentary elections.

The Prime Minister condemned everyone who committed acts of violence and, prevented people from voting. He also condemned everyone who he said had broken into SNS call centers and allegedly injured and harassed the people in them, assaulted journalists and election commission members. “You can’t do that in democratic societies, it is not permitted, without being sanctioned,” he said and accused the opposition of focusing on political rivals instead of the vote.