International election observers warn of shortcomings

“Fundamental freedoms were largely respected in Serbia’s 3 April presidential and early parliamentary elections, and voters were presented diverse political options, but a number of shortcomings resulted in an uneven playing field, favouring the incumbents. The combined impact of unbalanced access to the media, undue pressure on public sector employees to support the incumbents, significant campaign finance disparities and misuse of state resources resulted in unequal conditions for contestants,” the observers said in a joint statement. The observers were sent to Serbia by the OSCE and Council of Europe (CoE) Parliamentary Assembly (PACE).

It said that key aspects of the electoral process require further reform and implementation. “While media covered all electoral contestants, most public and private broadcasters with national coverage favoured the incumbent president and the ruling coalition, limiting the opportunity of voters to make a fully informed choice, it added.

The head of the OSCE observers Kyriakos Hadjijianni said that the competitive campaign included opposition candidates “but the pervasive influence of the ruling parties gave them undue advantage”.

“The recurring cycle of early parliamentary elections led to the creation of a ‘culture’ of early elections, which impacts the efficient functioning of the Parliament, no matter which political forces are in power,” PACE delegation chief Aleksander Pociej said and expressed regret that the state TV (RTS) and most media outlets “were not balanced in their coverage during the campaign”.

“During the campaign period, some key challenges limited voters’ ability to choose free from pressure or inducement. Along with pressure on public sector employees and the misuse of state resources by state and municipal actors, the observers were also told that excessive budgetary allocations were made to certain categories of voters prior to the elections. The war caused by the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine largely overshadowed the campaign, especially early on, and shifted the public discourse to European security developments and their impact on Serbia,” the statement said.

European Parliament delegation chief Thijs Reuten welcomed “the return to a more pluralistic and diverse Parliament in Serbia”. “However, we condemn the violent attack on election day against one opposition leader. We regret that the campaign was held in a highly polarized political environment, marked by limited media freedom and pluralism and government pressure on voters. We look forward to working together with the newly composed Serbian Parliament on concrete measures to strengthen democracy and the rule of law in Serbia on its EU path,” he said.

“While I wish to emphasize that parties that previously boycotted elections participated this time, after extensive inter-party dialogue that led to a set of reforms, this should be seen as only the starting point for a more transparent dialogue towards broader and much needed further reform,” said Bryndis Haraldsdottir, head of the delegation of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

OSCE ODIHR delegation chief Douglas Wake welcomed the recent changes to electoral laws but added that “much more fundamental reform in such areas as media access, accountability for campaign offences, and campaign finance regulation – and their effective implementation – are indispensable to ensure that all contestants can compete in elections on an equal basis, civil society and media can contribute effectively to political debate, and all voters have the opportunity to make fully informed choices”.