2023 Serbian election protests

2023 Serbian election protests
Part of 2023 Serbian parliamentary election and 2023 Belgrade City Assembly election
Demonstrators on 24 December 2023
Date	18–30 December 2023 (1 week and 5 days)
Location	Belgrade, Serbia
Caused by	Suspected electoral fraud in the 2023 parliamentary and Belgrade City Assembly elections
Goals	Annulment of the results of the 2023 elections
Methods	Demonstrations hunger strike civil roadblocks civil disorder civil disobedience riot (only on 24 December)
Resulted in	European Parliament adopts a resolution on the 17 December elections New Belgrade City Assembly election called for 2 June Defeat of the opposition on the 2 June elections
Parties
Anti-government protesters Citizens Opposition organisations Serbia Against Violence Students Against Violence/Struggle ProGlas Government of Serbia Police Government parties Serbian Progressive Party Socialist Party of Serbia
Lead figures
Dragan Đilas Marinika Tepić Miroslav Aleksić Vladimir Obradović Srđan Milivojević Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta Radomir Lazović Aleksandar Vučić Ana Brnabić Aleksandar Šapić Bratislav Gašić
Casualties
Injuries	7 police officers severely injured
Arrested	38 protesters arrested

On 18 December 2023, a series of mass protests began in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, after the parliamentary and Belgrade City Assembly elections on 17 December. The protests were organised by the opposition Serbia Against Violence (SPN) coalition, the Students Against Violence (later Struggle) youth organisation, and the ProGlas initiative.

According to monitoring and non-governmental organisations, such as CeSID, CRTA, and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the election day was marked with electoral fraud, with irregularities such as vote buying, ballot-box stuffing, Bulgarian train, and group voting occurring. The ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) denied all the allegations. In Belgrade, the election also resulted in a hung parliament, considering that no side had a majority to form a government. During the protests, the organisers called for the annulment of the results. Seven representatives of the SPN were also on hunger strike during the protests, with Marinika Tepić being the longest one, totaling 13 days. On 24 December, a riot broke out after an unsuccessful attempt by opposition councillors to enter the building of the City Assembly of Belgrade.

The protests lasted until 30 December; at that point, all seven representatives of the SPN ended their hunger strike. Two minor protests were also held in January 2024. The protests received criticism from the government and Russia, either comparing the protests to Euromaidan or alleging that Western powers supported the protests. After the protests, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the 17 December elections, calling for an international investigation due to the fraud, while the City Assembly of Belgrade failed to constitute and a new election was organised for 2 June 2024. The opposition lost, while the ruling SNS regained its majority in the body.