Opposition Does Not Believe in Authorities' Intention to Implement ODIHR Recommendations

Biljana Djordjevic (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC/DS)

The authorities aim to only formally implement the recommendations given by the observation mission of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), but what is problematic is that the process of writing the electoral laws that have been delivered to the Serbian parliament did not involve representatives of the opposition and civil society, Green-Left Front co-president Biljana Djordjevic said on April 24.

She told the Nova newspaper that the authorities had not met the main recommendations by ODIHR which refer to the forming of an independent Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media, and added that nothing had been done to prevent the abuse of public officials and public resources for election campaign purposes either.

"The draft laws are somewhat similar to the ones the former Government group for fulfilling the recommendations prepared after the December 2023 elections. At the time, we insisted that the process be returned to parliament through the forming of a working group for improving electoral conditions. As the representatives of civil society and the opposition left that group, after obstruction by the regime, it was to be expected that these laws would be proposed by an MP of the Serbian Progressive Party," said Djordjevic.

Four draft electoral laws based on the ODIHR recommendations regarding the general election held in Serbia on Dec. 17, 2023, have been published on the official website of the National Assembly of Serbia.The formal sponsor of the amendments to these laws is ruling Serbian Progressive Party MP Miroslav Petrasinovic.