Serbia's Progressive Party has won an outright majority in parliament after a snap general election called by Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.
Official results from the Serbian Republic Electoral Commission revealed that the party secured 48.34 percent of the vote in Sunday’s contest, winning 158 seats in the 250-seat National Assembly.
Vucic, who called the election two years early, claimed victory in Sunday's polls.
The Socialist Party led by Prime Minister Ivica Dacic came second with 13.51 percent of the vote. It was followed by the Democratic Party with 6.04 percent and the New Democratic Party, founded by former President Boris Tadic, on 5.71 percent.
Parties representing minority groups also took part. The Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians won 2.11 percent. The Party of Democratic Action of Sandzak led by Bosniak Dr. Sulejman Ugljanin won 0.95 percent, and the Party for Democratic Action - representing ethnic Albanians in southern Serbia -- won 0.68 percent of the vote.
Despite performing below the election threshold, the minority parties are allowed to take seats in parliament as they are exempt from the minimum five-percent threshold rule.
Earlier on Monday, Electoral Commission Chairperson Prof. Dejan Djurdjevic announced in a press conference that the voter turnout was 55.26 percent, and 2.69 percent of the votes were invalid.
Meanwhile, officials said the polls in Mur neighborhood of Novi Pazar city in Sandzak region would be examined in the coming days as the residents, nearly 2,000 eligible voters, were reportedly blocked from casting their votes during Sunday's election.
The Progressive Party will now be able to establish a single-party government by May 1.
"We have gotten a better result than the one Slobodan Milosevic got in 1990," the Progressives’ leader Vucic told supporters in the capital, Belgrade.
Vucic claimed that the result was the most persuasive since the country’s Communist era and said he would consult with President Tomislav Nikolic and three other parties which made it into parliament.
After the announcement, Vucic told foreign reporters that Serbia wishes to establish good relations with Turkey, noting that the country would welcome and expect more Turkish investors in Serbia.
Vucic also stressed that Serbia is respectful of Bosnia-Herzegovina's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
As for the problems awaiting the new government of Serbia, Vucic said that their biggest priority would be tackling unemployment. He promised to cut the unemployment rate significantly by the time his party had served half of its term in office.
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