Bureau of Social Research: ODIHR Silent on Vucic’s Violation of Priority Recommendation on Separating Party, State

Local election in Zajecar (BETAPHOTO/SASA DJORDJEVIC)

The Bureau of Social Research said in a July 31 statement that the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights is not saying anything about Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's violation of the ODIHR's first priority recommendation on separating party and state.

"In the Mission's new report assessing the need for expected early 2026 elections, the ODIHR notes that President Aleksandar Vucic continues to play a central role in the country's political life, but did not highlight his actions in the context of the ODIHR's first priority recommendation of 2024 on clearly separating the state and political party," the statement read.

The statement stressed that the ODIHR was silent about the fact that Vucic acted as an active participant in previous local election campaigns in 2025 and 2026 as president of the country, lending his name to Serbian Progressive Party tickets and speaking at election rallies, where he was often introduced as the president of the country, which violates not just Article 111 of the Constitution and Article 40 of the Law on preventing corruption, but also the ODIHR's first priority recommendation of 2024.

"The report also does not note Vucic acting as president of the country in the context of a campaign for the elections, as yet uncalled, in which he will be in the running for prime minister, which will affect the election results of the Progressives as a party, of which Vucic is a member, and his chances to be prime minister," the Bureau of Social Research said, adding that it received no invitation to meetings with the ODIHR Mission to present the findings of its monitoring, even though government-affiliated media outlets have claimed that the Bureau of Social Research is paid to deliver its reports to the ODIHR, the statement read.