Serbia parliamentary election preparations

The Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) of Serbia is managing several administrative developments ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 25.

Initial reports indicated the withdrawal of the ‘Izbor naroda’ list by the ‘Narodna Srbija’ coalition, a move that prompted concerns among commission members regarding a potential ‘legal vacuum’ in ballot numbering. Simultaneously, the RIK identified deficiencies in the ‘Bogoljub Karić – Pokret snaga Srbije – BK’ list, including 449 invalid voter support statements and questions regarding the electoral rights of candidate Danijela Sinadinović.

Following a verification process involving 65 certifiers, the RIK determined that of the 11,052 signatures submitted by the Karić list, only 10,603 were legally valid. Under recent legislative changes based on OSCE recommendations, the commission granted the list a 48-hour window to rectify these documentation errors or replace the candidate.

In a separate development, the organization CRTA called for an investigation into allegations of bribery in Niš, citing a video that allegedly shows individuals being offered 1,500 dinars in exchange for signatures. CRTA expressed concern over the lack of prosecutorial response to such recurring electoral irregularities.