Blank fields in Action Plan: ODIHR recommendations the government is ignoring

The fields in which the status of the implementation of these two recommendations should have been entered have been left blank.

Additionally, in the Action Plan the government cites the legal deadline for the appointment of a new Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), which expires on November 4, 2024, practically indicating that it will not guarantee this body’s independence in the new election cycle - which the ODIHR insists on.

Voter roll revision remains unclear

One of the disputed recommendations refers to the revision of the voter roll, which the opposition had the most complaints about in the previous election cycle.

The Government Working Group has asked the ODIHR for a comparative analysis of the data on voter registration, that is, on the data related to the voter lists publicly available in other countries, and on the level of access allowed to political parties.

Also requested from the ODIHR was an analysis of the available mechanisms and methodologies for the revision of the voter roll, as well as information on what concrete measures have been taken by the OSCE members to this end. The Action Plan states that the ODIHR would finish its analysis by April 9.

Optionally, the Working Group proposed the possibility of posting on the Public Administration and Local Self-Government Ministry website information on the number of voters per polling station once a month, instead of once in three months.

The government intends to fulfill some of the ODIHR recommendations, or at least it claims it does, so draft amendments to five election laws were forwarded to the opposition on April 8, which the government is planning to discuss with representatives of MP caucuses at a meeting scheduled for Thursday, April 11, at the Serbian Parliament.