National Assembly Collegium Commences Session on ODIHR Recommendations

Photo: Beta/Milan Obradovic

The first meeting of the new National Assembly’s Collegium commenced at 9 a.m. on April 1 with a sole agenda item: discussing the implementation of the recommendations made by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) regarding how Serbia’s electoral process can be improved. The guidelines were published in the ODIHR monitoring mission’s final report on Serbia’s December 2023 elections.

The Assembly’s Collegium is presided over by Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic and – as BETA’s correspondent on the ground reports – its session is being attended by MPs from the ruling majority and the opposition, namely representatives of the Serbia Against Violence and NADA coalitions, which have formed a unified platform with the ProGlas initiative.

The opposition’s central demands are that the electoral roll be audited and cleansed of ‘phantom’ voters, that a stop be put to the misuse of the media, and that all new local elections – including the capital’s – be held simultaneously. Serbia Against Violence has further stated that it will insist on the implementation of all 25 of the ODIHR’s guidelines.

The Collegium’s session is also being attended by members of the government task force for cooperating with the ODIHR and monitoring the application of the body’s electoral recommendations.