This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Serbia’s prime minister, Aleksandar Vučić, has won by a landslide in the country’s presidential election, further strengthening his rule in the Balkan country.

The state election commission said after counting 91% of ballots that Vučić won 55% of votes, followed by the liberal candidate Saša Janković with 16%, and Luka Maksimović, a parody politician, with 9%.

The triumph in Sunday’s ballot is a major boost for Vučić, who is expected to further tighten his already firm grip on power in Serbia. Vučić’s Serbian Progressive party (SNS) also dominates parliament.

'Only donkeys don’t change': Serbian PM says he's ready to be president Read more

A former extreme nationalist who has rebranded himself as a pro-EU reformer, Vučić has said he wants to lead the country into the European Union, while also pushing for deeper ties to longtime ally Russia.

The EU official overseeing the bloc’s enlargement said Vučić has a duty to use his powers wisely.

The EU enlargement commissioner, Johannes Hahn, said on Monday that Vučić has a “certain responsibility” in light of Sunday’s polls “to use this strong support by the citizens in a careful way.”

Hahn told reporters he was comforted by Vučić’s early assurances that “he will fully respect the constitutional framework, and I trust him”.

Vučić’s candidacy was endorsed by Vladimir Putin amid fears from some of Moscow’s expanding influence in the tense Balkan region. On Monday the Russian president congratulated Vučić on his “convincing election”, including popular support for his “meaningful and balanced foreign policy”.

Opposition candidates have accused Vučić of control over the media, mudslinging and intimidation of voters. Critics are worried he could become too powerful, at a time when he already effectively dominates the most important state institutions, leading to freedoms in Serbia’s fledgling democracy being eroded.

They point to his role as communications minister under Slobodan Milošević – the late Serbian strongman president who died while on trial for war crimes – when he fined newspapers for breaking draconian censorship regulations during the 1999 conflict with Nato over Kosovo, and presided over a diet of state broadcast propaganda.

Vučić made his political reputation as a member of the far-right Radical party, which campaigned for a greater Serbia and supported the bloody wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, which cost an estimated 100,000 lives and left some of Serbia’s leading politicians accused of facilitating ethnic cleansing.

He left in 2008 to join the SNS formed by his mentor Tomislav Nikolić, the outgoing president, and has been prime minister since 2014.



In an interview with the Guardian last week, Vučić addressed accusations of authoritarian tendencies head on: “That’s my way of democracy. Because they can always express their attitude, they can always say that I’m authoritarian, autocratic, or whatever they want. But I go to the parliament more often than any other prime minister to reply to their questions, have discussions with them. It’s a very open society and I have no problem to hear those comments.”

He also insisted he was a changed man: “There’s an idiom in Serbian – that only donkeys don’t change. It’s very normal to change your views. It’s very normal to change yourself, that you become more mature, more responsible.”

Vučić is expected to appoint a figurehead successor as prime minister and transform the presidency from a ceremonial office into a more powerful post. His priority now is to attract inward investment and create economic stability for Serbia, a country of 7.2 million people blighted by high unemployment and lagging living standards.

Associated Press contributed to this report

