Press conference of the “Serbia Against Violence” and NADA coalitions on 3 April 2024
Photo: FoNet
BELGRADE – President of the National Assembly of Serbia Ana Brnabić has called a new election in Belgrade for 2 June 2024. After two meetings with Brnabić this week, which failed to produce an agreement on electoral conditions, members of opposition coalitions “Serbia Against Violence” and NADA stated that the ruling parties “have chosen to hold an election without opposition”.
Last week, these two opposition coalitions reportedly reached a majority decision that boycott will be a solution if the electoral conditions are not improved. During today’s press conference, their representatives did not explicitly announced a boycott, but implied it as a real possibility. The deadline for submitting lists for local elections is 20 days before election day.
On Monday and Wednesday, representatives of the parliamentary groups met with Brnabić to discuss the implementation of OSCE/ODIHR recommendations on elections. “Serbia Against Violece” and NADA presented three requests ahead of the new round of local elections – revision of the voting registry, professional reporting of public broadcasters and holding all remaining local elections on the same day.
Brnabić stated on Monday that the first two requests were accepted “in principle”, while the third was rejected. The ruling party has scheduled the new election in Belgrade for 2 June, while it proposes to hold the remaining 89 local elections in September or October, she confirmed.
Holding elections on different dates to be used for organised migrations of voters?
Early elections in Belgrade and 65 cities and municipalities were held in December 2023. These local elections were called by the ruling party about six months ahead of time, leaving the remaining 89 local elections for their regular schedule later in 2024.
December elections, especially those in Belgrade, were marred by irregularities and strong allegations of organized voter migrations. The ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) was accused of registering voters who do not live in Belgrade and organizing their transport to vote on election day.
Separation of the local elections was interpreted as a part of this strategy, potentially allowing SNS-influenced state institutions to register voters in one municipality in 2023 and another in 2024, despite them not changing their residence in real life.
Following street protests and international criticisms of the December elections, SNS decided to hold a new election in Belgrade. However, it also decided to hold it separately from the remaining local elections in 89 cities and municipalities.
After the meeting with Brnabić and the ruling parties on 3 April, opposition members accused them of attempting to hold the elections separately so that they could register even more new voters in Belgrade. Media reports indicating that these operations were still ongoing continued after the December elections.
Meeting between the ruling majority and the opposition, 3 April 2024
Photo: FoNet
SNS rejects legal amendment to hold all remaining elections jointly
Opposition has proposed an amendment that would enable all remaining local elections to be held on 2 June, the same day as election in Belgrade. This would, according to them, limit further organized voter migration, since the vote would have to be held simultaneously.
Currently, elections in the remaining 89 cities and municipalities cannot be held on 2 June, because the law stipulates that they cannot be called earlier than 120 days before the end of the four-year term of a local parliament. This means that, in many cities and municipalities, the earliest legal date for regular local elections is 7 June.
According to Miroslav Aleksić, leader of the People’s Movement of Serbia, opposition proposed to amend the law and extend this timeframe from 120 to 150 days. If this is done by 18 April, he said, it would be possible to legally schedule all local elections for 2 June.
The ruling majority, however, has rejected this proposal.
In her own press conference, Brnabić said this solution would be undemocratic, because it would shorten the term of local municipalities.
Critics have pointed out that the ruling party did exactly this in December, when it triggered early local elections through coordinated resignations of its mayors. This, according to them, makes Brnabić’s argument hypocritical.
Press conference of Ana Brnabić, 3 April 2024
Photo: FoNet
Will the opposition boycott the new Belgrade election?
Opposition did not explicitly say it will boycott the elections, but implied it multiple times during today’s press conference in the parliament.
“They have chosen to have elections without opposition. Under these conditions, there are no elections, and we do not want to participate in a fraud. In the following days, we will start with our activities”, said Miroslav Aleksić.
During her press conference, Brnabić said that the date of the election was the only concern of the opposition and that they refused to cooperate with the government on the improvement of electoral conditions.
“They are determining the date based on how well they could do in the elections”, she said.
In December 2023, the ruling coalition of Serbian Progressive Party and the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) jointly won 54 out of 110 seats in the City Assembly of Belgrade, while “Serbia Against Violence” and NADA won 50. The remaining 6 seats were won by the list “WE – The Voice from the People”, whose most prominent member Branimir Nestorović refused to form a majority with either side.
It was confirmed on Monday that, this time, SNS and SPS will run on a joint list. They will be joined by right-wing nationalist party “Zavetnici”, which used to position itself as opposition to SNS. Aleksandar Šapić will once again be the mayoral candidate of the ruling coalition.
