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The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights today called on the Serbian authorities to prevent misuse of state resources during the election campaign and pressure on voters, and to review the voter list and increase the transparency of the financing of The bells. Among other things, the ODIHR concluded that before the elections, “the line between Vučić and the SNS campaign blurred.”
In what was published today the final report of the Special Election Evaluation Mission, established by the ODIHR to observe the parliamentary elections in Serbia on June 21, declares that legal changes, in accordance with international obligations, must be adopted after public hearings, and that the basic aspects of elections must not be changed in the years leading up to the elections, transfers Nova.rs.
The report recalls that the Serbian Assembly amended the Elections Law before the elections, “including issues on which there was no public debate”, which is “contrary to international obligations and good practices”.
It is recalled that among the changes are the reduction of the threshold for electoral lists and the formula for a better representation of the lists of national minorities.
“Although the amendments allow for easier representation in parliament, various interlocutors from the ODIHR Special Mission state that the objective of these changes is to reduce the consequences of the opposition boycott,” the report says.
Among the main recommendations of the ODIHR is that the relevant regulations should be included mainly in the laws approved by the parliament, and the technical issues and details should be regulated by statutes, including the instructions of the Electoral Commission of the Republic (REC) .
The authorities must take measures to prevent the abuse of state offices and resources. Compliance monitoring must be effective and penalties provided, ”the report said.
Avoid pressure on voters
The ODIHR stressed that the Serbian authorities should avoid pressure on voters, including employees of state institutions and companies and others associated with the state. Cases of alleged coercion must be thoroughly investigated and those responsible must be punished.
The ODIHR assessed that the regulatory framework for campaign finance and its implementation does not provide transparency, integrity or accountability for campaign finance.
To increase transparency, the ODIHR recommends amending the law so that the report on campaign income and expenditures is published before Election Day and the conclusions of the Anti-Corruption Agency are binding and published later.
The report states that voter lists should be made available to the Serbian public and laws on single voter registration and personal data protection should be harmonized.
“To address concerns about the accuracy of voter lists, authorities should review the Unified List of Voters as soon as possible,” the ODIHR said.
REM independence to increase
Recommends that the deadline for the submission of appeals and decisions of the REC and the Administrative Tribunal be extended in order to resolve disputes effectively.
“The independence of the Electronic Media Regulatory Body (REM) should be increased, and its responsibilities during the pre-electoral period should be explicitly defined by law and extended to all aspects of media coverage of the elections”, is one of the main recommendations of the ODIHR to Serbia.
Among the recommendations of the ODIHR is the possibility of regulating the media coverage of officials who are also candidates in the elections.
“The independence of public services should be increased by providing sufficient and sustainable funding, which will eliminate the dependence of public services on the state budget,” the recommendations to Serbia state.
Blurred line between Vučić and the SNS campaign
The report says there was no clear distinction between the roles of the Serbian president and the leader of the Serbian Progressive Party, Aleksandar Vucic, and that there is a “blurry line” between the social media campaign and the media coverage of the president and the government. , even in response to the pandemic crisis.
“Most of the national frequency television channels and most of the newspapers promoted government policies.” Several outlets that offered alternative views did not provide an effective counterweight, questioning the diversity of attitudes available to voters in traditional media. ” the ODIHR said.
The report claims that self-censorship was fueled by threats, attacks and pressure on journalists and the media, along with a lack of financial independence.
It was assessed that the Oversight Board, formed to monitor the campaign, and REM were passive in monitoring media content, but that REM banned several pre-election advertisements at the end of the campaign.
The ODIHR assessed that the REC did indeed organize the elections, that the elections were held smoothly in the polling stations visited by the ODIHR observation mission, and that the procedure was generally respected.
However, the ODIHR Special Mission detected the cases and received credible reports of violations of electoral silence in favor of the ruling party, according to the report.
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