All Aspects of Election Process Significantly Worse Than in 2023, Says Electoral Commission Member

Elections (BETAPHOTO/DRAGAN GOJIC)

The conditions in every phase of Serbia’s elections process are currently far worse than in 2023 and many problems present during the last parliamentary elections and recent local elections persist, Sofija Mandic, a lawyer and member of the State Electoral Commission said on Sept. 7.

Speaking for Nova S TV, Mandic explained the abovementioned phases refer to the media scene, the operation of the Regulatory Authority for Digital media, voting laws enabling the creation of ‘phantom tickets’ even without forged or double signatures, as well as what she dubbed “the ongoing campaign by state officials.”

To illustrate, Mandic cited a recent analysis by the non-governmental Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability which found that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has lately been appearing on live TV four times a day on average.

“We see [Vucic] dominating [on television], a non-functioning Regulatory Authority for Digital Media; we’ve seen how the Administrative Court operates, holding meetings in secret; the Constitutional Court is still sitting on [the case of the last electoral irregularities)… The only thing that is better is people’s awareness that things have to change. And it is my personal hope that the aggregate of this discontent can outmatch all of the regime’s electoral machinations, which have been quite thoroughly prepared,” Mandic said.

Mandic added that, with the recent amendments to election laws, she expects dozens of ‘phantom tickets’ that will create “artificial majorities in voting committees.” Moreover, the local elections of this spring have demonstrated that a future election day can entail violence as well, she said.

Asked to comment on the announced visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ahead of the upcoming snap elections, Mandic recalled that the EU official had visited Vucic prior to Serbia’s last elections as well. At the time, she stated that the election conditions needed improvement and that she would return to check on the situation in one month – yet she never did follow up, Mandic concluded.