Serbs vote in triple election set to keep populists in power

Voters in Serbia are casting ballots Sunday in a triple election likely to keep in power a populist government in the Balkan country that has refused to impose sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine

BELGRADE, Serbia -- Voters in Serbia cast ballots Sunday in a triple election likely to keep in power a populist government in the Balkan country that has refused to impose sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Some 6.5 million voters are choosing the president, a new parliament and local authorities in the capital, Belgrade, and over a dozen other towns and municipalities.

Opinion surveys ahead of the vote have predicted that President Aleksandar Vucic will win another five-year term and that his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party will yet again dominate the 250-member assembly.

But opposition groups stand a chance to win the majority in Belgrade, analysts say. This would deal a serious blow to the populists' decade-old unchallenged rule in Serbia.