Pro-EU party wins Serbian elections

Serbia's ruling Progressive Party won Sunday's parliamentary elections, securing another four years for its leader to push for the country's bid to join the European Union (EU), preliminary results showed on Monday.

Winning 49.3 percent of votes, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, the party leader, said that "the result is extraordinary, the best in the history of multi-party system" in Serbia, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

According to the Republic Electoral Commission, the Socialist Party, a smaller partner in the ruling coalition, won 12.1 percent of votes.

The elections, on Vucic's initiative, were held two years before his term ends to test people's devotion to reforms related to the process of EU membership negotiation that formally started last December.

Vucic also announced that Serbia will have a GDP growth of 2 percent this year, 3 percent next year and 4 percent by 2018, which will help the country get closer to the EU standard.

Final results of the elections will be announced in the following days by the Republic Electoral Commission, a parliamentary body in charge of organising elections, after which the parliament will be reinstalled within 30 days and a new government will be formed within another 90 days.

--IANS

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