Serbia Holds Referendum on Judicial Constitutional Amendments

Referendum (BETAPHOTO/SASA DJORDJEVIC/EV)

Serbian citizens on Jan. 16 voted in a referendum to decide on proposed amendments to the section of the Constitution dealing with the judicial system.

The referendum question, which voters could circle yes or no to, was: "Are you in favor of confirming the Act to amend the Constitution?" If the majority of voters circle yes the amendments will be adopted.

The Center for Free and Democratic Elections (CESID) announced that its observers had visited 260 polling stations in 23 municipalities and towns and had noted irregularities. CESID said the most frequent irregularities were "poor organization of the work of voting councils and family voting at multiple polling stations." Another common irregularity was "failure to comply with anti-COVID measures," CESID added.

Miladin Kovacevic, director of the Serbian Statistics Office, said he expected the turnout to be around 32 percent, while Vladimir Dimitrijevic, head of the Serbian Electoral Commission, has said that the preliminary results are expected after 10 p.m. on Jan. 16, while the deadline for releasing the final result, barring any repeat voting, is Jan. 21.