{"id":43219,"date":"2025-06-05T12:49:05","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T10:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crta.rs\/?p=43219"},"modified":"2026-04-22T11:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T09:18:09","slug":"local-elections-in-zajecar-and-kosjeric-long-term-observation-report-summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crta.rs\/en\/local-elections-in-zajecar-and-kosjeric-long-term-observation-report-summary\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Elections in Zaje\u010dar and Kosjeri\u0107: Long-Term Observation Report Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the authorities formally claim to support the implementation of ODIHR recommendations, in practice they continue to foster markedly undemocratic electoral conditions, once again evident in the campaigns in two local communities. <\/span><b>Moreover, the conditions have deteriorated compared to previous elections, as the campaigns in both Zaje\u010dar and Kosjeri\u0107 were marked by the systemic use of both propaganda and physical violence.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are the first elections held in the context of a historic wave of social mobilization, sparked by the collapse of a canopy in Novi Sad that resulted in the death of 16 people and led to ongoing student and civic protests that have continued for more than half a year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The protests triggered more effective grassroots organizing, leading to a more serious opposition challenge in the elections. In response, both national and local authorities escalated their mobilization efforts and resorted to the use of state and public resources, along with other forms of electoral manipulation. The most influential media outlets in the country ran a campaign in support of local ruling party lists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pressure on voters in Zaje\u010dar (47,357 registered voters) and Kosjeri\u0107 (8,897 registered voters) extended beyond the \u201cnormalized\u201d practices of vote buying and voter intimidation into a rise in verbal and physical violence on the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CRTA\u2019s election observation mission documented <\/span><b>71 incidents<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> during <\/span><b>the final three weeks<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the campaign involving <\/span><b>targeting and intimidation through smear campaigns, verbal and physical violence<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> against opposition activists, journalists, and citizens; <\/span><b>90 appearances by government officials<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in support of local ruling party campaigns;<\/span><b> 70 cases<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of potential misuse of public resources, official functions, symbols, and activities for party promotion; and nearly <\/span><b>70 instances of misleading political advertising<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> favoring the ruling party, containing inappropriate and dehumanizing rhetoric in the period immediately before and during the campaign. More than one-third of all government officials&#8217; campaign activities nationwide in the final weeks took place in Zaje\u010dar and Kosjeri\u0107.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Years of systemic manipulation of institutions and laws, combined with the persistent promotion of impunity, have rendered elections in Serbia undemocratic and have encouraged increasingly frequent use of illegitimate and illegal electoral engineering to benefit those in power.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #eb6909;\"><strong>Read the summary of the report below or by clicking <a href=\"https:\/\/crta.rs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Local-Elections-in-Zajecar-and-Kosjeric-Long-Term-Observation-Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the authorities formally claim to support the implementation of ODIHR recommendations, in practice they continue to foster markedly undemocratic electoral conditions, once again evident in the campaigns in two local communities. Moreover, the conditions have deteriorated compared to previous elections, as the campaigns in both Zaje\u010dar and Kosjeri\u0107 were marked by the systemic use&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":709,"featured_media":43214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[681,75],"tags":[974,164,976,105],"class_list":["post-43219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-publication-en","tag-election-2025","tag-elections","tag-elections-2025","tag-reports-and-analysis","ciTrackContent"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Local Elections in Zaje\u010dar and Kosjeri\u0107: Long-Term Observation Report Summary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" 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