BELGRADE (Sputnik) — Initial rallies were held on Monday, when crowds gathered near the Serbian parliament building in the capital a day after the country's presidential election. Social media organizers and opposition claimed there were voting irregularities and rigging, while crowds chanted calling Vucic a "thief." Crowds continued to gather, assembling near the Parliament, the Republican Election Commission and the Radio Television of Serbia.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Subotica and several other major cities, shown by live feeds on the organizers' Facebook page, called "protest against dictatorship."
The organizers have not stated any political affiliation and have not revealed their political program.
The protesters gathered at 18:00 (17:00 GMT) and proceeded to march along central avenues with no one resorting to violence as police looked on.
"We are a democratic country and everyone has the right to be pleased or unhappy with the election results. Imagine if I rallied my supporters in the streets to celebrate victory," Vucic said on national television while commenting on the protests.
He stressed that the protests do not pose a problem as long as they proceed peacefully.
The organizers are seeking to continue protests on Wednesday and are calling on those planning to take part to remain peaceful and avoid possible provocations.
Apart from Vucic, the electoral commission registered 10 other candidates that participated in the election, including independent candidates Sasa Jankovic, Vuk Jeremic, and Luka Maksimovic (also known as Ljubisa Beli Preletacevic), as well as Serbian Radical Party head Vojislav Seselj.
Jankovic came in second in the race with 16.29 percent of counted votes, while 25-year old student and parodist Maksimovic received 9.43 percent. Meanwhile, Jeremic, who served as Serbia's Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2007 and 2012 and was the President of the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2012-2013, received 5.64 percent. Seselj took in 4.47 percent of voter's support.
