Members of the ruling majority dominated the contents of programmes of television stations with national frequencies and occupied 91 percent of time dedicated to political entities in the extended prime-time on: RTS 1, Prva, Pink, Happy and B92 – as shown in the findings of the media monitoring performed by the CTRA in the period from the state of emergency proclamation on March 15th until its revocation on May 6th.
On April 6th, the City Emergency Headquarters in Bor adopted 11 orders introducing, inter alia, measures hindering human and minority rights although the Constitution and the laws of Serbia do not foresee such authority of the city headquarters. Orders, issued contrary to provisions of the Constitution and the law considerably and illegally restrict human rights and introduce obligations, i.e. responsibilities for groups of citizens that laws do not recognise and to a large extent cause legal uncertainty amongst citizens.
CRTA’s election observation mission continued to observe the quality of the election process after the lifting of the state of emergency and the official reinstatement of the election process.
We urge politicians, both in power and in opposition, and especially the President of the Republic Aleksandar Vučić and other public officials to refrain from actions during the state of emergency and the entire nation’s fight against the epidemic, which in many ways leave the impression that they are still in the election campaign. We expect the President to exhibit statesmanship, and discharge duties vested in him by the Constitution, and not to give the public a reason to conclude that the dramatic situation in society is being used to reap political benefits.
CRTA’s election observation mission withdraws all of its 120 long-term observers from the field across Serbia due to the graveness of the situation with coronavirus. Puting the citizens’ safety as the key priority within these recent circumstances, we believe this to be the only appropriate and responsible decision.
CRTA’s election observation mission has started the long-term observation of the pre-election period in Serbia in accordance with international standards for an independent election monitoring by citizen organizations. A team of 120 long-term observers has been monitoring key segments of the campaign for election of Members of the Parliament three weeks before the elections were…
CRTA’s election observation mission finalized the recruitment and training of more than 1.700 observers who will be deployed at the random representative sample of 500 polling stations on the Election Day on June 21. Observation of the election process at this sample will enable CRTA to report on election developments, as well as compliance with the law and electoral procedures at all polling stations in Serbia.
The claims that Olivera Zekić, the REM Council member made in the interview for the daily Večernje novosti, saying that television with national frequency ”do not have the obligation to provide space for the boycott advocates” are confusing for the public and can be interpreted as inadmissible interference with media editorial policy, as well as threatening the interest of the public to be informed as comprehensively as possible about the election process.
The electoral atmosphere in the municipalities of Lučani, Kula, Kladovo and Doljevac, where local elections shall be held on Sunday, are characterised primarily by public officials’ campaigning. In all four municipalities, an intense presence of public officials was noted – from ministers to directors of services and public companies – accompanied by the abuse of public resources. These are the main findings of the CRTA observation mission whose observers monitor the election campaign on the spot.
