Members of the “Serbia Against Violence” in the National Assembly, March 2024
Photo: FoNet
BELGRADE – All remaining local elections in Serbia will be held on 2 June 2024, together with the new election in Belgrade. Opposition’s requests regarding the improvement of electoral conditions have remained largely unaddressed by the ruling majority. The largest opposition coalition “Serbia Against Violence” split this week over the question of whether to boycott the elections in June.
On Friday evening, “Serbia Against Violence” members held a meeting, during which five out of nine parties supported participation in the local elections, while four stated they would boycott them.
Democratic Party (DS) later stated it would support the decision of the majority even though it voted for boycott. This brought the number of parties who plan to participate to six out of nine.
The largest parties in favor of participation were People’s Movement of Serbia (NPS) led by Miroslav Aleksić and Green-Left Front (ZLF) co-led by Radomir Lazović and Biljana Đorđević.
Meanwhile, the largest parties in favor of boycott were Freedom and Justice Party (SSP) led by Dragan Đilas and Serbia Centre led by Zdravko Ponoš.
The parties stuck to their positions following the vote, confirming that the coalition would not have a joint position on the upcoming elections.
Additionally, conservative coalition NADA, which won 6% of the vote in the December election in Belgrade, also said it would boycott the elections in June.
Different views on the best strategy
Asked whether this was the end of the coalition during his appearance on the N1 television last night, Miroslav Aleksić (NPS) stated that future cooperation was possible but that they had different views on how to fight the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
Biljana Đorđević, co-president of the Green-Left Front (ZLF), said for the same television that the decision of her party to participate was made despite the assessment that electoral conditions remain unfair.
“Even though we are completely aware that there was election fraud (in December)… the fact that we will not give up any battlefield without a fight is what motivates people”, Đorđević said.
On the other hand, Marinika Tepić, Vice President of the Freedom and Justice Party (SSP) said that her party was against participating in “something that are not elections”.
“We believe this is the right way to fight – not accepting fraud that is being set up in advance”, Tepić said.
Controversial December elections
The December 2023 elections, which included local elections in Belgrade, were marked by a series of irregularities. The final report of the OSCE/ODIHR international mission noted media imbalance, pressure on voters and instances of vote buying.
The most prominent controversy were serious allegations of organised migrations of voters from other municipalities to Belgrade. Civil society organizations and opposition claimed, based on multiple pieces of evidence, that the ruling party had registered and transported its supporters who do not live in the capital to influence election results.
Last year, SNS divided local elections in two parts by having its mayors resign early in 66 cities and municipalities. This triggered snap local elections, which were held in December alongside snap parliamentary election.
Holding 154 regular local elections in two phases, 66 in December 2023 and the remaining 88 in 2024 has been described as a part of the strategy of organized voter migrations. It potentially allows the same person to vote in two different local elections, both in 2023 and 2024. The critics believe this is being organized by the ruling parties.
Local elections that remain to be held on 2 June include some of the largest Serbian cities, such as Novi Sad and Niš. The races between the ruling and opposition parties are expected to be more competitive here than in smaller municipalities.
The ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and its partners are in power in all of these cities. Majority of the opposition boycotted previous local elections, in 2020, also citing unfair electoral conditions.
Electoral conditions largely unimproved
Following strong criticism of December 2023, the ruling coalition decided to hold new elections in the capital of Belgrade, where no list won an overall majority. New Speaker of Parliament Ana Brnabić also organized several meetings with the opposition on the implementation of OSCE/ODIHR recommendations.
Originally, the ruling party planned to hold Belgrade election separately from the remaining local elections. One of the demands of the opposition, however, was that all remaining local elections should be held on the same day, to limit the possibility of voter migrations.
Though initially opposed to this demand, Brnabić informed the public on Thursday, 18 April, that she had changed her mind after consulting President Aleksandar Vučić.
Opposition, however, also demanded the improvement of the reporting of the national public broadcaster RTS and the revision of the voter registry.
Even though the ruling party signalled readiness to talk about these issues, very little has been done to tackle them since December elections. Brnabić announced this week that two working groups, one for the legal changes to address some OSCE/ODIHR recommendations and another for the revision of the voting registry, are yet to be set up.
While his party considered 2 June as an acceptable date at the start of the negotiations, SSP leader Dragan Đilas later stated that the ruling party had spent too much time and that there was now no possibility for any meaningful improvement by June.
SSP took the position that the only acceptable solution is postponing all elections for autumn and improving electoral conditions in the meantime.
This position was repeated yesterday by the party’s Vice President Marinika Tepić, who expressed her belief that, had the entire opposition remained united in not accepting the 2 June as the date of the elections, SNS would have conceded and postponed the elections for autumn.
