Several thousand Serbian protesters gathered in central Belgrade on Saturday in the largest of a series of demonstrations against alleged election fraud.

It was the 13th consecutive protest since the December 17 parliamentary and local elections in which President Aleksandar Vucic’s party claimed a resounding victory. Since then, opposition groups have questioned the results.

The main opposition coalition “Serbia against violence”, but also other groups and initiatives, reported numerous electoral irregularities, including the fact that ethnic Serb voters from neighboring Bosnia had been allowed to vote illegally in the capital.

International observers also reported various irregularities and several Western nations expressed concern about the electoral process.

Saturday’s protests followed the first 24-hour street blockade in central Belgrade, mainly by organized student members of the Borba (“Struggle”) movement, demanding the annulment of the results and holding new votes. .

The protesters organized under the slogan “We do not agree” and repeated: “The elections must be repeated.”

The organizers asked for facilities from the European Union, as well as the establishment of an independent investigation committee for electoral irregularities, which seeks to establish fair conditions for the elections, before the new elections, which will take place in six months.

The crowd reacted in an important way when, with the help of her comrades, Serbian opposition leader Marinika Tepic, who went on hunger strike for 13 days, and has not eaten since December 18 to protest alleged electoral fraud, took the stage. .

“The only thing I can tell you is that everything has already been said. These elections must be annulled,” Tepic told the crowd.

At the end of her speech, the representative ended her hunger strike in the hospital.

The demonstration was led by the group ProGlas (play on words meaning “proclamation” and “pro-vote”), an initiative started in November by local celebrities, intellectuals, artists and professors.

President Vucic’s right-wing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), in power since 2012, won about 46 percent of the votes in the parliamentary elections on December 17, while the main opposition coalition won 23, 5 percent, according to official results.

Since the elections, protesters have set up sporadic barricades in Belgrade.