Belgrade Faces June Repeat Poll, as Party Deal on Elections Fails
The parliamentary collegium, convened by the President of the National Assembly Ana Brnabic, in which the opposition had negotiations with the ruling party on election conditions and on the holding of new Belgrade elections, ended without agreement. Opposition MPs said there will be no additional negotiations.
Brnabic on Wednesday called for new elections in Belgrade on June 2. “I just announced the Belgrade elections, choosing the last day for it, because at the request of the opposition and at the express request of President Aleksandar Vucic, we decided that these elections should be held at the latest term, in accordance with the Constitution,” said Brnabic, as N1 reported.
The agreement foundered because the ruling Progressive Party did not accept the opposition request that fresh Belgrade elections be held on the same day as regular local elections in around 60 local municipalities. Opposition MPs said holding elections on the same day was needed to prevent voter “migration”.
Although no one from the opposition actually said they would boycott this year’s elections, representatives from “Serbia against violence” said the ruling party had chosen to run elections without the opposition. “We will see what we will do in the coming days. In these conditions, there is no choice and we will not participate in theft,” said opposition MP Miroslav Aleksic.
Aleksic left it as a possibility that the ruling party could change his decision in the coming days and call all the elections in one day.
But Brnabic said holding all the elections on June 2 is not possible because it would mean amending the law on local elections, shortening the mandate of local authorities. “That would be an undemocratic precedent, the first time in the history of Serbia that we, as the National Assembly, limit someone’s mandate. I think it is a very dangerous precedent,” said Brnabic.
Brnabic also said she regretted the lack of compromise and gave the opposition an alternative solution, implying that Belgrade elections will be held on June 2 and all regular local elections in September or October. The opposition rejected this proposal. “They repeated their ultimatum. I honestly hope that they will reconsider what we offered… My door remains open,” Brnabic said.
On Monday, the Progressive Party accepted two other requests from the opposition, the formation of a commission that would control and audit the voter list and discuss media reporting, primarily that of the public broadcasting service.
In March, the Progressive Party said new Belgrade elections were needed because there was no way to form a city government, as there was no majority.
The decision followed domestic and international criticism of the local elections held in December 2023.
A report by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, published in February, says Serbia needs to initiate legislative amendments well in advance of the next elections, address concerns about voter lists, increase public confidence, prevent intimidation and pressure on voters – and provide for a clear separation between official functions and campaigning.
The report also noted allegations of the organised “migration of voters” – bussing –, vote buying and domination of the campaign by President Aleksandar Vucic and the Progressive Party.
The European Parliament on February 8 adopted a resolution on the Serbian elections and called for an international investigation and deployment of an EU expert mission into alleged fraud.
The resolution called for “an independent international investigation by respected international legal experts and institutions into the irregularities of the parliamentary, provincial and municipal elections, with special attention to the elections to the Belgrade City Assembly, as certain allegations, including those regarding organised voter migration at local level, go beyond the scope covered by the OSCE/ODIHR reports”.
