Second Interim Report Of Long Term Election Observation – Summary

The campaign for the extraordinary parliamentary and Belgrade elections took place in an atmosphere of systematic abuse of institutions, public functions and the most influential media, which placed electoral actors in an unequal position. Mass cases of falsification of signatures for candidacy marked the process of the submission of electoral lists. Worrying allegations of pressure on citizens through the public sector, cases of misuse of personal data and the fear of part of the public that the voter list and voting rights are being manipulated call into question the integrity of the institutions of the Serbian state. Formal restrictions on participation in the elections were not recorded, but the campaign took place in a manner in which the border between the state and the party was erased and intolerance towards political opponents was encouraged.

In the penultimate week of the campaign, CRTA sent an appeal to around 1,600 addresses of officials in all city and municipal administrations in Serbia, reminding them of their legal obligations and calling on them to do everything in their power to protect the implementation of the law and the integrity of institutions. The recommendations to the institutions and election actors, which the CRTA Election Observation Mission presented in its previous report, remained unanswered regarding the problems of pressure on voters, suspicions of manipulation of the voter list and voting rights, media inequality and unethical reporting on election candidates.