The electoral administration should move towards the professionalisation of the work as far as both electoral commissions and polling station committees are concerned. Electoral commissions ought to have greater authorities and to consist of jurists independent of political influences. Furthermore, the current way of conducting trainings of polling committees’ members does not produce the results expected in practice and should be therefore systematised and improved.
The electoral administration is often impelled to interpret various parallel laws and regulations which, given the low capacity of professional services, diminishes legal security in the area of electoral law and reduces the confidence of citizens in the electoral process. The electoral legislation should be codified into a single electoral code that would compile in one place all provisions from different laws directly related to the electoral process. Short deadlines foreseen for filing objections are one of the main causes that prevent voters from protecting their electoral rights.
Citizens’ mistrust in the election process is growing year by year. In order to reinstate the citizens’ confidence in the electoral process and in institutions implementing the elections, it is vital to improve transparency and openness of the entire electoral process. The citizens’ confidence might be reinstated if competent institutions, above all the Republic Electoral Commission, timely published all data relevant to the electoral process. Besides, the way in which institutions act upon citizens’ reports on irregularities during the elections should be improved. Serious deficiencies in the voters’ register, its administration and updates significantly affect the confidence of citizens in the electoral process.
Equality of participants in the election race depends not only on the unequal resources they have, which is the topic we addressed in the first part of recommendations for the improvement of the electoral conditions, but also on the institutional advantages that the election rules give to different participants, as well as the uneven coverage of candidates or representatives of the lists in media. Rules regulating the conduct of elections should guarantee equal conditions for all electoral contestants, including their equal representation in the media.
The prevention of the abuse of public resources in the electoral campaign is one of the most important fields when it comes to the improvement of the electoral process in Serbia. It is indispensable that the legislative framework and the practice in the Republic of Serbia harmonise with international standards and examples of good practice. It is necessary to prevent further abuse of taxpayers’ money during the electoral processes on the one hand and to exclude the possibility of public officials’ campaigning on the other, in order to ensure equality of all participants in the electoral race.
Civil society organisations warn that is has been three months since the mandate of the former Commissioner Rodoljub Šabić expired. The competent Culture and Information Committee of the Assembly has not yet initiated the process of selection of the new Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection. The process of selecting a new commissioner should begin without delay as this is in the best interests of citizens, institutions, the state and of the rule of law in general.
Parliamentary Insider for February 2019 brings monthly analyses of the work of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, including law summaries and key novelties introduced by the adopted laws, that are, for the first time, accessible in English. The beginning of the new year in the parliament has been marked with the boycott of a part of the opposition, due to which in February 2019, at the 11th Extraordinary Session, some MPs seats remained empty. While the boycott will for sure mark the spring session that is about to begin, it seems that the abuse of parliamentary procedures will occur after all, and also diverting the discussion to the topics which are not a part of the agenda. Furthermore, the extraordinary session has demonstrated that the absence of MPs from the opposition coincides with the absence of the amendments which had been used by the MPs of the ruling majority during the entire 2018 in order to prevent the meaningful plenary debate.
The Union of Informed Citizens (UIC), an Armenian civil society organization, received the OSCE Democracy Defender Award for 2019. The award ceremony took place on March 11 in Vienna, and was attended by CRTA Director Vukosava Crnjanski as a representative of the last year’s Democracy Defender Award recipient.
The organisation Crta launched a campaign “I want a Commissioner, not a yes-man!”, in order to draw attention to the fact that the process of selection of the Commissioner should be initiated and that the criteria of transparency, openness and integrity must be respected. Besides, the citizens should be informed about the identity of the potential candidates for the function, so that the new Commissioner could continue to perform their duties as an independent professional entity.
Our topics
Democratic culture
Because politics is not just for politicians. It is our human and citizen right to participate in the processes of making decisions which influence our lives. A dialogue has no alternative.
Free and fair elections
Because elections are the pillars of democracy. It is every citizen’s right to decide on whom to give his/her vote in free and fair conditions. Our vote is valuable and it can make a difference.
Open institutions
Because institutions serve the citizens. We need strong institutions with integrity which protect the public interest.
Free media
Because media should ask questions and critically analyse the reality. We need the media which protect the public interest and tackle the needs of the citizens.
