A Serbian opposition supporter holds a banner reading "Children, we're sorry" during a protest attended by several thousand people, outside the country's electoral commission in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. An early official vote count of Serbia's weekend election on Monday confirmed victory for the ruling populist party in a parliamentary vote in the Balkan country, but political tensions rose over reported irregularities in the capital, Belgrade. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia's ruling populists insisted on Tuesday that weekend snap elections were free and fair despite criticism from international observers who noted multiple irregularities during the vote in the Balkan nation that is a candidate for European Union membership.

Political tensions in Serbia soared over the parliamentary and local elections on Sunday. Several thousand people rallied on Monday to protest alleged fraud at the ballot for municipal authorities in Belgrade, the capital. More protests were planned Tuesday.

Early results showed victory for President Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party in both ballots. But its main opponents, the Serbia Against Violence alliance, said they were robbed of a win in Belgrade.

Opposition leaders, who accuse Vucic of stifling democratic freedoms contrary to assertions in the government's EU bid, said they will not recognize the result in Belgrade. They called protests and demanded that the vote be annulled and held again. The populists rejected the claims.

“We are very happy how the election day went,” Milos Vucevic, leader of the right-wing Serbian Progressive Party, said on pro-government TV Prva. “It (the election) can set an example for many other countries.”

In a preliminary statement Monday, a mission made up of representatives of international rights watchdogs said the Serbia vote was “marred by harsh rhetoric, bias in the media, pressure on public sector employees and misuse of public resources.”

Serious irregularities included cases of vote-buying and ballot box stuffing, according to the joint conclusions by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.

On Tuesday, EU Commission officials said they “conclude with concern that the electoral process requires tangible improvement and further reform, as the proper functioning of Serbia’s democratic institutions is at the core of Serbia’s EU accession process.”

“We also expect that credible reports of irregularities are followed up in a transparent manner by the competent national authorities,” High Representative Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi said.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry in a post Monday on X, formerly Twitter, noted that "the OSCE ... is reporting abuse of public funds, intimidation of voters and cases of vote-buying." The statement called that “unacceptable for a country with EU candidate status.”

But the Kremlin congratulated Vucic on the election victory, calling Serbia a “brotherly” and “friendly” nation. China applauded the “undisturbed” holding of the vote in a statement shared by Vucic's office.

Vucic, who has been in power since 2012, has dismissed criticism that his government curbs democratic freedoms while allowing corruption and organized crime to run rampant.

Under Vucic, Serbia became a candidate for EU membership, but the opposition accuses the bloc of turning a blind eye to democratic shortcomings in return for stability in the Balkan region, still troubled after the wars of the 1990s.

In Belgrade, several thousand people chanted “thieves” in front of the state election commission headquarters on Monday evening. Some opposition politicians spent the night in the building after lodging formal complaints.

Serbia Against Violence includes parties that were behind months of street protests this year triggered by back-to-back mass shootings in May. The group has charged that some 40,000 people were bused in from neighboring Bosnia to vote in Belgrade and tilt the outcome in favor of the populists.

Skirmishes erupted during Monday's rally as mostly young protesters pushed against the metal fences and shoved a commission member. Two people, aged 19 and 20, have been detained for violent behavior, police said Tuesday.

Danica Samardzic, a student from Belgrade, said she came to the protest because she felt “we have been robbed.”

“We want something to be done about all the problems we have in our country,” she said. “We should not be silent about this. This protest is just the beginning of something bigger.”

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Associated Press writers Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

News from © The Associated Press, 2023