CRTA reports threats to citizens' rights ahead of Serbian elections

The Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA) has reported that citizens’ rights and freedoms are under serious threat ahead of upcoming elections in Serbia. Rasa Nedeljkov, the organization’s Program Director, stated that the integrity of the electoral process is being undermined by extensive electoral engineering.

Key concerns cited by CRTA include the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ decision not to open polling stations in certain countries despite sufficient voter registration. Additionally, the Republic Election Commission (RIK) has mandated that voters in all time zones must cast their ballots according to Serbian time, a move Nedeljkov described as setting a problematic precedent not found in other democratic nations.

The report also highlights threats to domestic rights, specifically pointing to the unlawful surveillance of election participants. Nedeljkov noted that intercepted and allegedly altered recordings have been used to target individuals and discredit electoral lists, mentioning that Informer TV utilized such recordings on at least ten occasions during the first phase of the campaign.