"Jutarni list" about the elections in Serbia: Russia is delighted, Germany is angry

Germany stresses that irregularities found by international observers in Serbia's parliamentary elections are "unacceptable" for a country seeking to join the European Union, while Washington expressed its desire for further cooperation in strengthening democracy, recalls Croatia "Utarni list" edition.

"Serbia voted, but the OSCE reported cases of unauthorized use of public funds, voter intimidation and vote-buying," the German Foreign Ministry said.

"This is unacceptable for a country with the status of a candidate for EU membership," the message states.

International observers said Serbia's early elections were marred by President Aleksandar Vucic's dominance of the campaign, which, along with unfair competition, a biased media and numerous irregularities, contributed to uneven electoral conditions.

Washington has not commented on allegations of wrongdoing, saying only that it wants to cooperate with Serbia to strengthen democracy after the elections.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that the United States wants to "continue cooperation with the incoming government of Serbia to strengthen democratic governance and the rule of law and improve regional stability."

The Kremlin expressed satisfaction with the victory of Vucic's party in the Serbian elections, calling the country "friendly" and "fraternal".

"We welcome Vucic's success," noted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

The ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SPP) won 46.3 percent of the vote in the parliamentary election, which would give it 128 seats in the 250-seat parliament, according to preliminary results based on 99.8 percent of votes counted.

The opposition coalition of the center-left "Serbia against violence" won 23.6 percent of the votes and will have 65 seats in the parliament, and the Socialists of Vucic's former coalition partner Ivica Dacic with 6.6% will have 18 mandates. /BGNES