The situation was particularly alarming because the police largely did not intervene against the perpetrators
Originally published on Global Voices
Screenshots of videos from Bor and Kula published by election observation mission of CRTA, depicting election irregularities and incidents of violence. Photo collage by Meta.mk. Fair use.
This article is based on coverage by Meta.mk News Agency published on March 29, 2026. An edited version is being republished here under a content-sharing agreement between Global Voices and Metamorphosis Foundation.
Observers assessed the March 29 local elections in Serbia as being deeply flawed and marred by violence, with numerous incidents of beatings, intimidation and systemic irregularities overshadowing the vote. President Aleksandar Vučić nevertheless declared victory for his ruling coalition across all ten municipalities in which elections were held.
This was not a nationwide local election round, as Serbia employs a staggered local election schedule. Voting took place in Bor, Kula, Bajina Bašta, Knjaževac, Sevojno, Kladovo, Smederevska Palanka, Aranđelovac, Lučani, and Majdanpek. By the end of election day, TV N1 reported a high turnout in all locations, hovering at around 60 percent.
Government claims support
Vučić said the closest electoral races were in Kula and Bor, and that the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) — the main player in the coalition government he leads — secured more comfortable margins in several other towns, including Kladovo, Lučani, and Smederevska Palanka. According to the preliminary results he presented, the party won around or above 50 percent of the vote in most municipalities.
In several districts, SNS candidates found themselves going up against members of the country's student protest movement, such as “Students for Aranđelovac,” “United for Bajina Bašta,” and “Voice of the Youth of Kula Municipality.” In some instances, the students campaigned on their own to be elected as municipal council members; in others, they ran together with local opposition parties.
Vučić emphasized that the electoral results demonstrate continued public support for the government across different parts of Serbia, despite such strong competition in some localities.
Record of irregularities, intimidation and escalation of violence
However, observers noted serious irregularities in the elections process and recorded violent scenes at several voting stations. The observation mission of the civil society organization Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA) concluded that the intensity of violence in three towns — Bor, Kula and Bajina Bašta — overshadowed other issues recorded in municipalities where the situation was relatively calm.
In all ten municipalities, for instance, observers noted the keeping of parallel records, cases of compromised ballot secrecy, and the organized transportation of voters, indicating possible voting under pressure — but in light of beatings, the drawing of weapons and the spread of fear, such electoral deficiencies tend to appear “less” serious.
In the municipalities of Bor, Bajina Bašta, and Kula, citizens, journalists and observers suffered organized attacks by masked thugs, which allegedly included officials from the ruling parties. The situation was particularly alarming due to the fact that the police largely did not intervene against the perpetrators. On the evening of election day, Raša Nedeljkov, head of CRTA’s observation mission, stated:
Današnji izborni dan je u Boru obeležen sa nizom incidenata fizičkog nasilja. Možda najbolje odslikava dinamiku dana okolnost da, recimo, prvi put znam gde se u jenom mestu na kome posmatram izbore, nalazi bolnica, policijska stanica, sud. Za posmatračku misiju Crte okolnost da bazična bezbednost posmatrača, aktivista, novinara nije garantovana od strane Ministarstva unutrašnjih poslova šalje veoma ozbiljan signal. Dakle, da ono što svedočimo više nema čak ni obrise slobode na izborima, a kamoli da pričamo o nekakvim nijansama demokratije.
Today’s election day in Bor has been marked by a series of incidents of physical violence. The dynamics of the day are perhaps best illustrated by the fact that, for the first time in a place where I observe elections, I know where the hospital, the police station, and the court are located. For CRTA’s observation mission, the fact that the basic safety of observers, activists, and journalists is not guaranteed by the Ministry of Interior sends a very serious signal. What we are witnessing has no trace of free elections, let alone any shades of democracy today.
He noted that in most locations, they recorded strict government control over voting, as well as direct interference in the electoral process through lists of “secure votes of our president.”
The civil society organization Youth Initiative for Human Rights noted that one of the most serious cases involved a group of masked attackers armed with axes, who severely beat two Revolt portal journalists — Lazar Dinić and Ivan Bjelić — and also attacked photographer Zorica Popović and activist Aleksandar Kulić.
In the town of Kula, CRTA’s observation mission documented an attack by a large group of masked “unknown individuals,” who, after emerging from the city’s stadium, injured several people using stones, metal bars, sticks and flares. The victims, who sustained head injuries, sought assistance at the nearby hospital.
“The police reacted immediately, but did not carry out an inspection nor [did they] enter the stadium. The unidentified individuals who carried out the attack are located inside the stadium,” said Pavle Dimitrijević, head of CRTA’s legal team. A larger group of citizens then gathered at the scene, dissatisfied with the police response. Additional incidents were later reported throughout the town.
Footage from Bor and Aranđelovac indicates that members of the Russian biker group “Night Wolves” took part in intimidation of both citizens and the opposition. Police allowed these bikers to roam around with their license plates covered with black duct tape:
Na Trgu slobode u Aranđelovcu veliki broj bajkera iz grupacije “Noćni vukovi”, povezane sa kriminalom i režimom. Bez tablica ili prekrivenih tablica.
Ulaze u kafić “Harizma”, čiji vlasnik gosti SNS grupe, a studente i građane snima sve vreme.#IzboriAR pic.twitter.com/rIB6DQYypZ— Blokada FPN (@blokada_fpn) March 29, 2026
At Freedom Square in Aranđelovac, a large number of bikers from the ‘Night Wolves’ group, linked to crime and the regime, were present, with no license plates or with plates covered. They entered the ‘Harizma’ café, whose owner hosts SNS groups, while continuously filming students and citizens. #ElectionsAR
In Bajina Bašta, vehicles belonging to observation missions had their tires punctured overnight, while during the day there were multiple incidents of street violence, including the destruction of a car. Footage from one of the incidents shows attackers armed with batons, and an unidentified man carrying a firearm.
In Bor, one of the beatings occurred after a large group of pro-government enforcers emerged from the premises of the Pension and Health Insurance Fund and beat up students. Other citizens were also physically attacked, including journalists and a CRTA observer, and their mobile phones taken.
Nedeljkov stated that one police officer was “physically threatened with a weapon in an attempt to calm tensions while the attackers said, ‘We don’t care at all,’ insulted him, and attacked the young men and our observer.”
The portal Mašina shared footage from Knjaževac showing police officers, who had been informed by students that violence was taking place nearby, refusing to go to the scene and directing them to the police station instead.
In Kraljevo, police prevented a larger group of citizens from confronting them. The group had gathered in front of a building to which masked attackers had fled after the initial assaults.
TV Nova S reported that during one of the incidents in Bor, a citizen complained that police officers broke his arm while he was defending his son from pro-government attackers.
Via mobile teams manned by as many as 300 trained volunteer observers, CRTA ran observation missions in all electoral locations. The organization’s logistics and fuel costs were covered by individual donations from citizens.
On the heels of the elections, Youth Initiative for Human Rights demanded the immediate prosecution of all attacks on journalists, election observers, political actors and citizens. Due to the failure of the police to prevent violence and arrest the perpetrators, the group also demanded an urgent session of the Internal Affairs Committee of the National Assembly of Serbia, where the work of the police on election day will be discussed.
