Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Monday 3 april 2017

At Press Time:

Serbia’s powerful PM claims landslide presidential win

DUSAN STOJANOVIC Vucic spoke after projec-
Associated Press tions by different indepen-
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — dent polling agencies had
Serbia’s powerful Prime him receiving more than 55
Minister Aleksandar Vucic percent of the votes cast
claimed victory Sunday in during Sunday’s election.
the presidential election Liberal challenger Sasa
that was a test of his au- Jankovic placed second
thoritarian rule amid grow- with 15 percent and Luka
ing Russian influence in the Maksimovic, a media stu-
Balkan region. dent who ran as a parody
Speaking to supporters at politician, came in third
his right-wing party’s head- with 9 percent, according
quarters, Vucic said, “My to the pollsters.
victory is crystal clear. This Official results are expect-
is a very important day for ed Monday.
us, showing which way Ser- Vucic, a former ultrana-
bia should be heading.” tionalist who now declares
“A huge majority of people support for Serbia join-
in Serbia support continua- ing the European Union,
tion of the reform process, had been forecast to win
continuation of the Euro- the presidency by a high
pean path for Serbia along margin. He needed to win
with preserving our tradi- Serbian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Aleksandar Vucic speaks during a press con- more than 50 percent of
tionally good ties with Rus- ference after claiming victory in the presidential election, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, April 2, the vote to avoid a run-
2017. Vucic claimed victory Sunday in the presidential election that was a test of his authoritarian
sia and China,” Vucic said, rule amid growing Russian influence in the Balkan region. off election on April 16
while his backers chanted (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) that would have put him
“Victory, victory!” in a much trickier position
against a single opposition
Hungarians rally for imperiled Soros-founded school candidate.
Vucic has been prime min-
ister since 2014. He is ex-
PABLO GORONDI institutions have expressed in the march, which started demia and autonomy for pected to use a win in the
Associated Press support for Central Euro- at Corvinus University and universities.” presidential race to ap-
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) pean University. The school, ended outside Parliament. The draft law, scheduled to point a figurehead succes-
— Thousands of people founded by Soros in 1991, Corvinus professor Daniel be debated by lawmakers sor as prime minister and to
marched in Hungary’s cap- enrolls over 1,400 students Deak said the protest was on Wednesday, sets new transform the presidency
ital on Sunday to protest from 108 countries. an attempt to defend CEU conditions for foreign uni- from a ceremonial office
proposed legal changes Prime Minister Viktor Orban from the government at- versities in Hungary. One into a more powerful post
that are seen as target- considers Soros an ideolog- tack. would force CEU to open from which he could rule
ing a Budapest university ical foe whose “open soci- The new rules are “a shot a campus in New York unchallenged.
founded by billionaire Hun- ety” ideal contrasts with his coming from the Hungar- state, where it is accred- The opposition has ac-
garian-American philan- own efforts to turn Hungary ian government against ited but does not carry out cused Vucic of muzzling
thropist George Soros. into an “illiberal state.” all Hungarian universities,” academic activities, while the media and intimidat-
Many Hungarian and in- Organizers said some Deak said. “We strongly another could make it ing voters ahead of the
ternational scholars and 10,000 people participated request freedom for aca- change its name.q election. q