Washington, 25 November 1996 (RFE/RL) - The United States says there is no good reason for the delay in announcing the results of a municipal election held in Serbia five days ago.
State Department spokesman Glyn Davies said Friday there can be no technical explanation for not releasing the results of the Sunday vote and that the delay suggests some kind of irregularity.
"There clearly seems to be some kind of monkey business going on that ought to be ended," he said.
Davies said the United States has conveyed this to the Serb government and continues to monitor the situation closely.
He said the U.S. embassy in Belgrade has also asked Serb authorities for an explanation of what happened to Danica Draskovic, wife of opposition leader Vuk Draskovic. Davies said she was home Friday but claims to have been detained Thursday by government authorities.
Leaders of the opposition coalition Zajedno have accused the government of fraud, saying the authorities are annulling votes that gave the opposition victory in most major cities in Serbia, including Belgrade.