Elections Can Be Monitored if There Is Goodwill and Organization

Milan Stamatovic((BETAPHOTO/SASA DJORDJEVIC/DS)

Healthy Serbia party leader Milan Stamatovic has said that the election conditions can improve and the procedure can be monitored if there is "goodwill and organization."

"At the local level we can ensure [that there is] monitoring, but we cannot do that at the level of the state because we do not have the resources for it," Stamatovic told the Sept. 17 issue of daily Danas.

He went on to say that the elections would certainly take place in spring 2022, but that the question was whether those who were in power "will continue to abuse the laws and procedures."

Speaking about the ongoing inter-party dialogue on election conditions, Stamatovic said it was for mere cosmetic corrections of the election procedure, "whereby the authorities are making small concessions," so no changes worth mentioning would happen.

He said that in the inter-party dialogue without the mediation of European Parliament representatives, which his party is taking part in, the authorities had not taken most of the party's demands into consideration. "The biggest dispute with the representatives of the authorities is over digitalization and democratization of the electoral process, its oversight, and media freedom. If the electoral process cannot be monitored, then everything else is pointless," added Stamatovic.