#01 ENSURE EQUALITY OF ALL PARTICIPANTS IN THE CANDIDACY PROCESS

Citizens have the right to run for political and public office, as individuals or representatives of political parties and organisations, without discrimination (CD 7.5). The Venice Commission’s Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters (VC) states that when submitting candidacies, there must be clear rules for signature verification (VC I.1.3.iii), and that signature verification must be completed before the start of the election campaign (I.1.3.v). Special rules for national minorities foreseeing derogations from normal procedures are in principle not contrary to equal suffrage (I.2.4.b). In order for these standards to be met, it is necessary to undertake the following:

1. Introduce the obligation that the holder of the list be a candidate in the local elections

   In order to realise the principle of accountability of political representatives towards voters it is necessary to change the provision of the Law on the Election of Members of Parliament (article 69, paragraph 4) as well as the provision of the Law on Local Elections (article 39, paragraph 1) in the direction of introducing the obligation that the holder of the list in the elections must be a candidate in those same elections.

2.  Harmonise election laws with the Law on Certification of Signatures, Manuscripts and Transcripts

   It is necessary to harmonise the provisions of the election laws with the corresponding provisions of Article 29 of the Law on Certification of Signatures, Manuscripts and Transcripts (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 93/2014, 22/2015 and 87/2018). In that sense, it is necessary to prescribe in the election laws that only exceptionally, in cities and municipalities for which notaries public have not been appointed, signatures, manuscripts and transcripts will be certified by courts of general jurisdiction, judicial units and reception offices of courts of general jurisdiction, in accordance with Article 13, paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Law on the Seats and Territorial Jurisdictions of Courts and Public Prosecutor’s Offices (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 101/13), i.e. municipal administration as a entrusted task, until the appointment of notaries public. If the verification of the voters’ support signatures is regulated in this way, preventive measures will be taken in the direction of eliminating any manipulations and abuses of the verifiers, which was a recognised problem in the election processes in 2020 and 2022.

3.  Separate the process of the electoral lists submission and the official commencement of the election campaign

   Amendments and supplements to the Law on the Election of Members of Parliament and the Law on the Election of the President of the Republic should help separate the process of candidacy announcement and collection of signatures from the campaign itself. In this way, the campaign can officially start only when the Electoral Commission adopts the collective electoral list. Submitting electoral lists would be a special process which takes place independently from the electoral campaign (duration from 30 to 60 days) and lasts for a definite period of time. While submitting the electoral lists, all activities within the conduct of the election campaign would be prohibited and in that way the equality of all participants in the campaign would be improved.

4. Restore previous legal solutions regarding the required number of signatures for running in local elections

   Article 43 of the newly adopted Law on Local Elections stipulates that the number of signatures for the candidacy of the electoral list shall be determined in relation to the number of voters in a certain local self-government unit. This means that parties or groups of citizens who would nominate fewer candidates on electoral lists would have to provide the maximum number of signatures, which puts them in an unequal and uneven position and makes the very race unequal and suitable for parties that have been on the political scene for a long time.

   The proposal is to enable greater participation of parties and movements by amending paragraph 1 of Article 43 of the Law on Local Elections, which would read: “Paragraph 1: For the proclamation of the electoral list, it is necessary that at least 30 voters support it with their signatures, according to the proposal for each candidate on the electoral list. The nominator must have at least one third of the candidates from the total number of councillors on the electoral list that are to be elected. Paragraph 2: In local self-government units with less than 20,000 voters, the electoral lists referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article are determined even when they are supported by signatures of at least 200 voters.”

5. Precisely regulate the competence and manner of determining the abuse of the status of the national minority electoral list

   Pursuant to the Law on the Election of members of Parliament, the REC grants status and assesses the potential abuse of the status of the electoral list of a national minority completely independently and on the basis of criteria that are not predefined in the Law on Financing Political Parties.

   It is imperative to precisely define which body shall oversee the activities of political parties of national minorities, and which body shall take into account potential abuse in the election process, as well as the criteria on the basis of which the existence of abuse is determined, taking into account constitutionally guaranteed rights. Without a change in the Law on Political Parties, these changes are not possible and they require a broader social dialogue about the conditions for the work and activities of national minority parties.

   It is necessary to establish coordination of the work of the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government and the Republic Electoral Commission, in order to adopt the above-mentioned criteria and determine the specific division of competencies between these bodies, and appropriate legal changes that would prevent abuse of this status in practice.

6. Prohibit the use of the coat of arms and flag by the participants in the campaign

   From one election process to another, the appearances of party activists in the campaign wearing official symbols of the Republic of Serbia, the national flag and coat of arms on promotional party uniforms are recorded. This practice can mislead citizens in the sense that party promotional activities have the support of official bodies of the Republic of Serbia. Therefore, a ban on the use of official symbols of the Republic of Serbia on promotional materials of political parties should be introduced in the Law on the Design and Use of the Coat of Arms, Flag and Anthem of the Republic of Serbia.