Serbia's Parliament adopts changes to a set of election laws

According to a statement from the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, the changes to the set of election laws are the result of parallel inter-party dialogues on election conditions that took place with and without the participation of representatives of the European Parliament, the implementation of the recommendations of the OSCE, as well as public hearings in which civil society organizations dealing with electoral matters and local officials participated.

Amendments to the election laws establish “a higher degree of democracy and transparency of the election process,” the statement said, adding that the novelties of these three election laws are important in terms of protection of rights in election procedures and the easier candidacy of political parties of national minorities, as well as in terms of organization and transparency of the work of election administration bodies.

The Law on Election of the President of the Republic does not bring essential novelties in this election procedure but harmonizes it with the Law on the election of MPs while the Law on Local Elections brings several novelties, including the establishment of the number of election commission members depending on the number of local self-government units, new deadlines for deciding on calling elections in relation to the expiration of mandates of councillors, determining the minimum required number of voters who must support the electoral list with their signatures, new deadlines for constituting the assembly to avoid obstructions.