We, the signatories of this press release, alert to the impermissible violations of the human rights of all of Serbia\u2019s citizens which characterised the entire election process since 1 November 2023, when the early parliamentary and local elections were called and the ensuing activities of the Republican Election Commission and the Belgrade City Election Commission, and which culminated on election day, 17 December 2023.<\/p>\n
The elections held on Sunday cannot be qualified as fair or free where a number of citizens are concerned, wherefore they cannot reflect the genuine electoral will of Serbia\u2019s citizens, undermining the legitimacy of institutions that will be formed based on these election results and of any decisions they take. The elections were totally delegitimised by grave irregularities, numerous abuses, breaches of election rights, rules and procedures, election controllers\u2019 reports and materials leaked before and on election day, problems with election registers, and the tickets endorsed by the Belgrade City Election Commission despite evidence that at least half (7 out of 14) them were based on forged voter support statements.<\/p>\n
International observers within the joint OSCE\/ODIHR mission, including representatives of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, also pointed out the irregularities during the election campaign, including misuse of public resources and national broadcasters, the absolute domination of Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 in the media, and attacks on journalists and civil society organisations. On election day, they witnessed inadmissible group voting, pressures on voters, vote-buying, ballot box stuffing, and examples of so-called phantom voters.<\/p>\n
Although elections are a mechanism by which the citizens in a democracy transfer their sovereignty to their elected representatives in the national and local parliaments, the only conclusion one may draw from this election process characterised by the enumerated irregularities is that Serbia\u2019s citizens have been stripped of their civic sovereignty. In such a situation, the institutions\u2019 failure to respond to violations and abuses of rights and procedures leads to the devastating conclusion that the citizens have no option but to fend for themselves and protect their rights and build institutions. It thus comes as no surprise that the citizens have been rallying in the streets and exercising their political rights to the freedoms of assembly and freedom of expression, expressing their dissatisfaction with the electoral process and, as holders of sovereignty, insisting that the Serbian Constitution and laws apply to everyone and must be respected.<\/p>\n
We believe that the citizens\u2019 electoral will was not respected at the 17 December elections and that the relevant institutions must review the possibility of annulling the elections and repeating them in circumstances in which all the enumerated irregularities will be eliminated. That is the only way Serbia\u2019s institutions will demonstrate that they respect the principle of the rule of law and the electoral will of Serbia\u2019s citizens.<\/p>\n
We, the signatories of this press release, alert to the impermissible violations of the human rights of all of Serbia\u2019s citizens which characterised the entire election process since 1 November 2023, when the early parliamentary and local elections were called and the ensuing activities of the Republican Election Commission and the Belgrade City Election Commission, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n