Serbia Against Violence Leader: If Electoral Commission Rejects Opposition’s Complaint, Last Legal Recourse is to Petition Constitutional Court

Serbia against Violence Protest in Front of Electoral Commission Seat, Belgrade, Dec.18 2023( BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

On Dec. 21, Marinika Tepic, the vice president of the Freedom and Justice Party and one of the two main candidates of the Serbia Against Violence coalition, stated that, should the State Electoral Commission reject the coalition’s complaints within the next 72 hours, the opposition’s last legal recourse is submitting a people’s initiative to the Constitutional Court. Asked whether other opposition parties will join their demands for repeat elections on all levels, Tepic told N1 that such talks are already under way and that some may join before the day is out.

Tepic, who has been on hunger strike for three days over the demand that the elections be voided due to various irregularities, further stated that she expects the opposition will succeed in getting the elections repeated.

“We wouldn’t be doing all this if we didn’t expect [success], even though we always tend to doubt that our institutions were violated etc. But we do not expect this because of Aleksandar Vucic, the Progressive Party of Serbia or their exponents in the city, state and regional electoral commissions, but rather because of the people, foremost the youth [protesting] here in front of the State Electoral Commission every evening,” Tepic said.

She went on to claim that the international community has changed its rhetoric following the Dec. 17 elections. “For the first time, they have affirmed everything we’ve been speaking of for years: that the media have been hijacked, that they are usurped for the gain of one man. They’ve mentioned the pressure put on voters, vote buying, and this new electoral migration phenomenon. We are the only [country] in Europe that has electoral migrants,” Tepic concluded.