Serbia ties overseas voting to local time, a move likely to spark backlash ahead of a key election

BELGRADE, Serbia -- Ahead of a key parliamentary election later this month, Serbia 's election commission has tied overseas voting hours to the local time in the country and approved a contested list of polling stations abroad — a move critics say could make it tough for the Serbian diaspora on the other side of the world to vote. The decision means that voters in Chicago, which is home to a large Serbian community, would have to cast their ballots between 1 a.m. and 2 p.m., and Serbs in parts of Australia and New Zealand would have to show up at the polls — typically set up in diplomatic missions and offices — and vote overnight. The high-stakes Oct. 25 election was called by Serbian populist leader Aleksandar Vucic before he stepped down as president last month in a bid to return to power as prime minister and leader of his Serbian Progressive Party.Vucic resigned as president on Sept. 27, cutting short his second and final legally allowed term by more than seven months. The resignation came as he has faced sustained pressure from nearly two years of protests by a burgeoning student movement that has morphed into a political force that will challenge him in the election. Analysts...