Two Serbian lawmakers say they will end their hunger strike to demand an annulment of general elections that took place earlier this month, while three other members of the opposition Serbia Against Violence continue their protest.
Janko Veselinovic and Danijela Grujic, both members of parliament, announced on December 28 that they will end the hunger strike on the advice of doctors.
Veselinovic announced on X, formerly Twitter, that he and Grujic had been hospitalized.
"We're fine. Don't worry. We haven't ended the hunger strike yet. But on the advice of doctors, we will do it today," Veselinovic said.
Grujic started her hunger strike on December 21, and Veselinovic two days later.
In addition to the hunger strikes, there have been daily protests in Belgrade since the day after the election, and Veselinovic also called on supporters to "be in Belgrade" at 12 p.m. local time on December 30 for another rally.
The three members of Serbia Against Violence who are continuing their hunger strikes are Marinika Tepic, Jelena Milosevic, and Branko Miljus. They are currently in the building of the Serbian parliament, where the headquarters of the election commission is located.
They are demanding the annulment of the December 17 parliamentary and local elections across Serbia, claiming electoral fraud.
Tepic, a leading figure in Serbia Against Violence, the country's main opposition party, began her hunger strike on December 18 after President Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) was declared the winner of the elections. She was placed on intravenous drips on December 25 following a deterioration in her health, but told Reuters that she planned to reject further medical advice to end her protest.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other international observers denounced what they called a series of "irregularities" in the voting. Domestic nongovernmental election-monitoring groups also alleged that irregularities took place in the voting process.
Viola von Cramon, a member of the observation mission of the European Parliament to the parliamentary and local elections, condemned the alleged irregularities and said the European Parliament expects "higher democratic standards from an EU candidate country."
The SNS and Serbian leadership have rejected the allegations of electoral fraud.