Serbian elections marred by president's involvement, vote buying - observers

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) gained an unfair advantage in snap parliamentary elections through media bias, the improper influence of President Aleksandar Vucic and voting irregularities such as vote buying, an international monitoring mission said on Monday.

The populist SNS won 46.72% of the votes in Sunday's elections, according to state election commission preliminary results, based on the count from 96% of the polling stations.

The centre-left opposition alliance Serbia Against Violence came second with 23.56% of the votes and the Socialist Party of Serbia third with 6.56%.

The "parliamentary elections though technically well administered and offering voters a choice of political alternatives, were dominated by the decisive involvement of the president, which, together with the ruling party's systemic advantages, created unjust conditions," Reinhold Lopatka, the leader of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) observer mission, told a news conference.

Vucic actively campaigned for his SNS party although he was not on the slate of candidates named after him - "Aleksandar Vucic-Serbia Must Not Stop".

Observers also said there was misuse of public resources, a lack of separation between official functions and campaign activities, voter intimidation and vote buying.

The parliamentary election, the fifth since 2012, coincided with local elections in most municipalities, the capital Belgrade and the northern province of Vojvodina.

The opposition SPN alliance alleged major election law violations in Belgrade city parliament races including voter registration fraud, bribery and result rigging and demanded it be rerun.

Hundreds of SPN supporters rallied outside the state election commission in Belgrade. Protesters briefly tried to break through a security fence and pelted the commission's building with tomatoes and eggs, chanting "Vucic thief."

Opposition leaders Miroslav Aleksic and Marinika Tepic said the SPN submitted evidence of election fraud and announced they would go on a hunger strike until the commission meets opposition demands.

"We cannot and we will not recognise elections in Belgrade, ... We are here to hand over our evidence ... my colleague Miroslav Aleksic and myself will remain here and we will go on a hunger strike," Tepic said.

According to CeSID and Ipsos pollsters, the SNS won 38.9% in a local election in Belgrade, while the SPN secured 34.6%. The nationalist NADA coalition came third with 6%.

With its population of 1.4 million people, Belgrade represents about a quarter of Serbia's electorate, and its mayor is seen as one of the country's most influential officials.

"We call on the competent authorities to investigate properly," Klemen Groselj, the head of a delegation from the European Parliament said, referring to entire election process.

Observers also cited numerous reports of journalists who were verbally insulted by state officials, as well as co-ordinated attacks on journalists through pro-government media.

The international mission to Serbia had 361 observers from 45 countries, including 254 experts from the Warsaw-based OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

(Reporting by Ivana Sekularac and Aleksandar Vasovic, editing by Ed Osmond and Cynthia Osterman)