The SRS issued a statement after the defeat of its candidate in Sunday's vote, saying that 70 per cent of the Serbs who failed to turn out for the ballot made it possible for "some 17 per cent of Hungarian and Ruthenian nationalists to decide who the mayor will be."
Novi Sad-based newspaper Dnevnik quoted the Ruthenian National Council as saying it was scandalous and dangerous that the SRS was blaming its electoral defeat on the Hungarian and Ruthenian ethnic communities.
The Hungarian National Council described the SRS statement as "a true threat to members of minority communities", while the Democratic Party said it was proof of the SRS's "fascist policy" and showed "what kind of opinion the SRS has of the national minorities living in Serbia and Vojvodina."
A candidate of the Democratic Party was elected mayor of Kula.
A similar scandal occurred a month ago when a Radical member of Parliament insulted the Minister of Agriculture, an ethnic Croat, on ethnic grounds. The incident prompted the G17 Plus party to seek a ban on the SRS's work.