Serbia's ruling populists claim sweeping election victory

Belgrade: Serbia's governing populists claimed a sweeping victory in Sunday's snap parliamentary elections.

According to a near-complete preliminary tally published on Monday by the state election commission, President Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won 47% of the vote.

The largest opposition group, Serbia Against Violence (SPN), picked up 23%.

Vucic's name was not on the ballot, as it was not a presidential election, but the vote was widely seen as a referendum on his leadership after a turbulent year for the country.

Tensions with neighbouring Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, have escalated. And two back-to-back mass shootings claimed the lives of 18 people in Serbia.

The shootings rattled Vucic's support, yet his right-wing populist SNS maintained a commanding position following the vote.

"We will have an absolute majority in [the 250-seat] parliament with 127 seats," President Aleksandar Vucic told reporters.

The Kremlin welcomed the result, saying Moscow hoped it would lead to the "further strengthening of friendship" between Russia and Serbia.

Some electoral observers and independent media reported irregularities on voting day.

One report claimed that ethnic Serbs from Bosnia and Herzegovina gathered to vote in a sports hall in Belgrade that was not an official polling station.

Observers from the Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability expressed "the highest concern" over allegations that illegal voters were bussed into Belgrade from other countries.

"The concentration of buses, minivans and cars was observed on several spots in Belgrade, transferring voters to polling stations across the city to vote," the civil society watchdog said.

It also reported cases of voters being given money to vote for the SNS.

The opposition said it would lodge official complaints and called a street protest later on Monday.

Authorities have rejected claims of any wrongdoing, and Acting Prime Minister Ana Brnabic dismissed the reports as "lies that are intended to spread panic."

The parliamentary vote coincides with local elections taking place in most municipalities, the capital, Belgrade, and the northern province of Vojvodina.

The Belgrade vote is shaping up to be a crucial battleground between the SNS and the centrist SPN coalition.

The movement was formed in the wake of the mass shootings, which pushed hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters to the streets for months.

Vucic has dismissed the rallies as a foreign plot, often warning that Serbia would be left directionless without him.

"It's not about me leaving power, but about them destroying everything," he told supporters at a recent rally.

"It would take us 20 years to fix everything ... That's why we'll beat them more convincingly than ever."