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The Friedrich Ebert Foundation, in cooperation with the Center for Contemporary Politics, published an analysis of the electoral process in Serbia in 2020, which estimates that it is the most controversial elections in Serbia since the democratic changes of twenty years ago, and that mediation of the European Parliament was unsuccessful. .
In the text, entitled “Elections in Serbia 2020: undermining confidence in the democratic processIt is noted that on the day of the elections and during the electoral campaign, which was effectively carried out during the state of emergency, numerous irregularities and controversies were observed that greatly affected the electoral results.
“Almost all of these deficiencies were not the product of technical errors or imperfections in the electoral process, but the obvious result of the lack of political will to hold fair and honest elections,” the report says. European Western Balkans (EWB).
It is especially indicative, as they say, that these elections contained a record of irregularities and controversies even despite the fact that their winner was not questioned at any time, as well as that a dialogue mediated by the European Parliament was maintained for months. improve electoral conditions.
Regarding the problems of the electoral campaign and the day of the elections, the findings of the Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA), the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID), Transparency Serbia, BIRODI and other organizations. balance, voter pressure, official campaigns and misuse of public resources.
Some of these areas were on the table in the negotiations between the government and the opposition, mediated by the European Parliament at the end of 2019, when a set of measures was adopted that the government promised to comply with.
“All or almost all of the measures have been formally implemented, but the evaluation shows that either they did not cover all areas (electoral pressures and official campaigns were excluded) or they did not have a satisfactory effect. Critics of the measures repeatedly said that they were they limited to amendments to relevant acts and adoption of recommendations, but not their implementation, “the report said.
It is also claimed that, instead of improving electoral conditions, rapid changes were observed in the electoral system, which violated the principles of the Venice Commission, a very intense official campaign and most likely a manipulation of official statistics related to the pandemic. of coronavirus for political purposes.
“In the end, we won the elections with a record number of irregularities, as well as the election results, which in themselves raise the question of the democratic nature of Serbia’s political system,” the analysis reads.
The conclusion adds that mistrust in the electoral process, as well as the lack of representativeness of the new parliament whose composition does not correspond to the real relationship of the political forces in society, will deepen the political crisis, given that discontent will not be channeled to through political institutions.
Among the report’s recommendations is a call for continued EU-mediated dialogue, but in such a way that it involves all relevant actors and addresses fundamental issues relevant to free and fair elections, with strict monitoring of implementation.
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