Transparency Serbia: Elections Will Be Held under Worse Conditions than in 2023

Transparency Serbia (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC)

The elections, scheduled for Oct. 25, will be held under significantly worse conditions than those in 2023, despite several amendments to laws relevant to the electoral process, non-governmental organization Transparency Serbia (TS) said in a statement published on its website on Sept. 8.

With regard to some of the key recommendations by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), “there has been no attempt whatsoever to introduce changes.” “This primarily applies to the recommendation concerning pressure on voters and the pre-election distribution of money to various categories of citizens. For this type of buying political support, the revised budget envisages almost EUR 1 billion, while some EUR 430 million were distributed prior to the 2023 elections,” according to TS.

They also said that recent amendments to the Law on Prevention of Corruption “will do little to regulate the campaign activities of public officials,” adding that “nothing has been done to clarify and strengthen sanctions for violations of the Law on Financing Political Activities and the Law on Prevention of Corruption, or to prescribe sanctions for all forms of violations of the rules.”

TS also said that there have been some changes regarding campaign financing, but they are insufficient, because “a spending limit has been set at an absurdly high level - EUR 6 million for parliamentary elections, or twice as much as in countries comparable to Serbia.”

“One point is particularly important, however: even if the laws were perfect, they would be of little value in a situation where key institutions - the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and public prosecutors’ offices - do not proactively investigate violations, fail to establish all relevant facts even when complaints are filed, or issue “warnings” instead of initiating proceedings to impose sanctions,” TS said.