Belgrade [Serbia], December 18 : The ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) led by President Aleksandar Vucic is in the lead in the snap parliamentary election, according to the exit polls, Al Jazeera reported.
According to projections by the pollsters Ipsos and CeSID on Sunday evening, the SNS won 47 per cent of the vote and is expected to hold about 130 seats in the 250-member assembly.
On the other hand, the main opposition Serbia Against Violence (SPN) alliancea centrist coalition vying to unseat the populists who have ruled the Balkan state since 2012won about 23 per cent of votes, the projections said.
This snap parliamentary election is being widely regarded as a referendum on the right-wing government, according to Al Jazeera.
Notably, the projections are based on a partial count of a representative sample of polling stations. The official results are set to be announced late on Monday.
The election did not include the presidency but governing authorities, backed by the dominant pro-government media, have run the campaign as a referendum on Vucic.
"My job was to do everything in my power to secure an absolute majority in the parliament," Vucic told reporters on Sunday as he celebrated what he said was the SNS's victory.
Two mass shootings in May, resulting in 18 deaths, including nine elementary school students, led to protests that shook Vucic and the SNS's decade-long grip on power.
The discontent was made worse by rising inflation, which hit 8 per cent in November.
Opposition parties and rights watchdogs also accuse Vucic and the SNS of bribing voters, stifling media freedom, violence against opponents, corruption and ties with organised crime, Al Jazeera reported. However, Vucic and his allies deny the allegations.
The elections were marred by reports of major irregularities, both during a tense campaign and on the voting day.
CeSID and Ipsos, which jointly monitored Sunday's vote, reported irregularities including organised arrivals of voters at polling stations, photographing of ballots and procedural errors, Al Jazeera reported.
The state Election Commission also alleged that election monitors from the Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA) watchdog were attacked in northern Serbia.
"There were a lot of irregularities," said opposition leader Radomir Lazovic, citing alleged "vote buying" and "falsification of signatures."
"We may have had the dirtiest electoral process," he added.
Al Jazeera reported citing several social media posts that fuelled rumours that the government "was allowing unregistered voters from neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina to cast ballots illegally in the election."
But, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic dismissed the claims, accusing the reports of "spreading chaos."
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