Self-initiated legal amendments lead opposition in Belgrade to tough spot

Statements and explanations from the election commissions are piling up, and the main reasons for rejection include: changes in the candidates' places of residence, a higher percentage of female representation, as well as previously seen signatures on other lists.

The "Start the Change" Movement led by Savo Manojlovic (who is participating in elections for the first time) faced particularly many obstacles.

Just when they had collected the necessary signatures for electoral lists, an unpleasant surprise followed. Lists were rejected in the municipalities of Vracar, Rakovica, Stari Grad, and Vozdovac, and Savo Manojlovic claims - due to a new form of electoral manipulation.

"In Vracar, 247 signatures found on the Start the Change list were allegedly given to other lists. There is no way to verify which lists these are, whether they are falsified, phantom lists where you never have information on where signatures are collected," said Savo Manojlovic from the "Start the Change" Movement.

The explanation from the authorities is that this is the result of a change in the law requested by the opposition.

It is a decision that those who have changed their residence in the last 12 months cannot vote at the new, but the old polling station.

In this way, the opposition wanted to prevent voter migrations that civil society organizations, media, and opposition politicians themselves noticed during the previous elections on December 17.

However, the Belgrade municipality of Novi Beograd rejected the list of the coalition "Choosing Struggle" mainly because candidates on the lists changed their residences in the last 12 months.

"That is why there was a clear agreement that the law does not apply to candidates. It is true that the law came into force on Saturday and that many lists were submitted on Saturday or Sunday, and we checked people on the electoral roll, they were on the electoral roll and they are still on the electoral roll," claims Biljana Djordjevic from the "Green-Left Front."

The verbal agreement between the opposition and the progressives did not bear fruit, but it is still fruitful that the government is using citizens' personal data.

"Where did you get this data from citizens, where does someone have data that a certain Maja changed her residence at a specific time," says lawyer Rodoljub Sabic.

It is still uncertain whether all objections will be withdrawn and thus allow all those who intended to enter the electoral race to do so. But one thing is certain for now.

"In terms of perception, the government has received a penalty to present them as incompetent, as people who themselves sought changes to the law based on which electoral lists are now being rejected, so the opposition in Belgrade is in a very bad situation," explains Aleksandar Ivkovic from the Center for Contemporary Politics.

At the "Choosing" coalition meeting on Tuesday, May 14, it was decided to insist on the acceptance of all opposition electoral lists since they were submitted in accordance with the law. We expect all electoral lists to be accepted within the legal deadline, it was announced after the meeting.

"All lists of our coalition 'Choosing' were submitted in accordance with the law. All candidates on the lists of the coalition 'Choosing', in all municipalities and cities where we are running, have the right to be elected on the lists they are candidates on. A large number of citizens supported our list and candidates with their signatures, as well as other opposition organizations, and therefore we demand that the government stop obstructing the opposition's electoral lists," the coalition's statement said.

Their legal team will use all legal means at their disposal.

"Given that these are electoral lists that are in accordance with the law, we expect the government to stop further obstruction and declare all lists. If the government does not abandon further obstruction, we will be forced to withdraw from the electoral process because under such conditions, Belgraders would not have the right to choose," they stress in the coalition.

A similar stance is announced by Savo Manojlovic, who has stated that the deadline for all electoral lists to be declared is Friday at 12 p.m., and if not, a "complete blockade of the electoral process" will be organized on June 2.

One of the reasons their list was rejected in Vracar is because they had a higher number of women on the list, i.e., they did not have a ratio of 3:2 for every five candidates.

"We have no intention of spending this short electoral campaign on debates about electoral conditions and tuning the law," he says.

He also mentioned phantom lists (lists presented as opposition, which only appear just before elections, while between two electoral processes, no one knows what they do).

"For what purpose all objections were submitted and those lists should be rejected. This is an absolute abuse of the electoral process, you mislead voters, and there is no information about where signatures are collected, where the lines are," he emphasized.