Press conference of the “Serbia Against Violence”, 11 March 2024
Photo: FoNet
Over the weekend and on Monday, opposition presented its demands for the improvement of electoral conditions ahead of local elections in Belgrade and remaining cities and municipalities. Coalition “Serbia Against Violence” demands a special law which would establish a commission overseeing the election, a team of experts who would examine the voting registry and the change of personnel of the public broadcaster and the media regulator.
Since the controversial elections in December 2023, opposition has demanded the improvement of electoral conditions before the next round of voting takes place.
On Sunday, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić announced the decision of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) to hold the new election in Belgrade on 2 June.
Regular elections in more than half cities and municipalities in the country, including the second and the third largest city, Novi Sad and Niš, also need to take place by the end of summer. The date of these elections has not been determined yet.
“ProGlas” document outlines general demands
The document drafted by “ProGlas”, a group of public figures critical of the government which organised a “get out the vote” campaign for the December elections, was signed by “Serbia Against Violence” and NADA on 9 March 2024.
One of the document’s main points was that the opposition would not accept an early date for the new election in Belgrade, which would have left insufficient time for the improvement of electoral conditions. A day later, Aleksandar Vučić announced the decision of the ruling SNS to hold the election on 2 June, which is the latest possible legal date.
Another demand was that the remaining local elections should be held on the same day as the election in Belgrade.
While this is not possible under the current rules, it might happen if the mayors of the remaining municipalities resign before the end of their term. This was the mechanism through which early local elections in 65 municipalities were triggered in December.
Other two demands of the document are the implementation of recommendations of ODIHR Final Report on 2023 December elections, and for the public broadcaster RTS to objectively inform the citizens on the upcoming local elections.
“Serbia Against Violence” adds more details
On 11 March, MPs of the “Serbia Against Violence” coalition held a press conference in the National Assembly. They presented proposals which reiterated the demand for holding all remaining local elections on the same day. They also outlined more detailed demands for the improvement of electoral conditions, which should be adopted by the parliament in a form of a special law.
The opposition asked the parliament to urgently form a special body, Commission for control of the elections, which would have 9 members – three nominated by the ruling parties, three nominated by opposition and three nominated by civil society organisations.
The Commission, according to this proposal, would have an authority to monitor all aspects of the electoral process and initiate proceedings before the responsible institutes, which would have to react urgently.
As a long-term solution, “Serbia Against Violence” proposed the caretaker government model in which opposition ministers also participate, which is currently implemented in North Macedonia.
Before the calling of the next local elections, opposition-nominated international and domestic experts should be able to access the voting registry and check who and when was changing it since the 2022 elections. This team should also be able to monitor the voting registry during the campaign.
When it comes to the media, opposition demands that the members of the media watchdog, Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), resign. REM, which can sanction televisions for violating media laws, has been the target of criticism of opposition for years for its passivity.
Opposition also demands the election of the new governing board of the public broadcaster, Radio-Television of Serbia (RTS), which are elected by REM. The governing board should then elect new director-general and editors.
Before these steps, as a temporary measure, opposition requests that the parliament adopts binding guidelines for the media in the campaign and elects an independent commission which would monitor their implementation.
The opposition also demanded that the person who is not a candidate on the electoral list can be in the name of the list, which is a practice regularly used by Aleksandar Vučić and the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
Other request include the responsibility for the criminal acts discovered during the December local elections and measures which would prevent the falsifications of signatures of support for electoral lists, which was one of the major issues of the December elections.
