Serbia faces election integrity concerns ahead of October 25 vote

Just 11 days remain until Serbia’s snap parliamentary elections, and the course of the campaign and the electoral procedures have raised concerns that the vote could be marred by potential manipulation and irregularities.

Among the main reasons for these concerns is the fact that Serbia’s unified voter register was officially closed with a total of 6,450,523 registered voters, compared with the country’s population of 6,647,003, according to the October 2022 census, CE Report quotes HINA.

The difference suggests that only 196,480 residents of Serbia are under the age of 18 and therefore ineligible to vote.

A member of the Commission for the Audit of the Voter Register has pointed out that public doubts about the credibility of the electoral roll have persisted for a long time.

At the same time, the public, opposition parties and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) warn that it is mathematically implausible for eligible adult voters to account for as much as 98 percent of the total population, given that minors make up a significantly larger share.

Analyses of publicly available data show that more than half a million voters in the electoral records do not have complete addresses, including street names and house numbers.

According to a recent investigation by Radio Free Europe (RFE), around 85,000 voters in just 13 border municipalities are registered at fictitious addresses, such as “no street – 0”.

The opposition’s warnings about so-called “phantom voters” have been ongoing for months. According to official data, more than 500,000 voters will be eligible to cast ballots in the snap parliamentary elections on October 25 despite not having a precisely recorded address.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and the Ministry of Interior have failed to provide convincing answers to media questions about the significant discrepancies in population and voter records.

Ana Gođevac, a member of the Commission for the Audit of the Voter Register representing the opposition Freedom and Justice Party, says it remains unclear how many voters Serbia actually has. She claims it is certain that the register includes people who should not be on it, as many were registered at fictitious addresses in Serbia, particularly in Belgrade, in 2022 and 2023, she told N1.

Meanwhile, media outlets have reported extreme cases, such as in Priboj in southwestern Serbia, where as many as 247 voters are registered at the address of a single 88-square-metre house.

At the same time, the student movement and the opposition have unsuccessfully sought to persuade the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to open additional polling stations abroad. According to their claims, 110,000 voters have registered to vote from abroad, raising concerns that more than 20,000 Serbian citizens living overseas could be unable to participate in the October 25 elections.

RIK has meanwhile rejected complaints from the Student List concerning polling stations and voting hours abroad. The student movement has appealed to the Administrative Court, accusing RIK of “electoral sabotage”.

The main objections raised by “Student List – Students Are Winning” are that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Administration, with RIK’s tacit approval, allegedly filtered applications deliberately and knowingly to “artificially reduce the number of voters and justify closing embassies, cancelling polling stations and imposing overnight voting” in Australia, China, the United States, Canada and Brazil. In New York, for example, voting is scheduled to begin at 2 a.m.

Opinion polls indicate that the October 25 snap parliamentary elections will see a close race between the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, whose list is headed by former president Aleksandar Vučić, and the Student List. The latter enjoys strong support among voters abroad and has already mobilised tens of thousands of people to encourage the highest possible turnout.

Photo: Pexels (Free Stock Photos)