Serbia election featured stuffed ballot boxes, watchdog says

Serbia’s recent local and parliamentary elections were marred by serious irregularities including vote buying, voter migration and ballot box stuffing, a watchdog has reported.

The increasingly EU-sceptic Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won 46.8 percent in the Dec. 17 vote, while the opposition Serbia Against Violence coalition secured 23.6 percent. Thousands of people subsequently protested what they claimed was election fraud.

“Election day was smoothly conducted but was marked by numerous procedural deficiencies, including inconsistent application of safeguards during voting and counting, frequent instances of overcrowding, breaches in secrecy of the vote, and numerous instances of group voting,” reads the report by an election observer body from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Cases of intimidation and harassment of civil activists and journalists were recorded. The observation mission also expressed “limited trust in the information from the national public broadcasters,” all of which are pro-government.

While the report acknowledged Serbia had adopted some of its previous suggestions on election-related legislation in 2022, other recommendations had “not been sufficiently addressed,” including those “related to ensuring a level playing field” or “to prevent intimidation and pressure on voters.”

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić — who strives for good relations with both Russia and China as well as with the EU — had stepped down as SNS president in May, and did not run in the parliamentary elections. The report notes, however, that Vučić still “assumed a central role in campaigning through heavy involvement in SNS events, televised campaign appearances and billboards.”

According to the observer group, this gave an advantage to Vučić’s party: “All monitored national channels covered campaign activities in line with the law, but positive coverage of the President and ruling parties dominated the programmes of most broadcasters [and] further tilted the level playing field.”

The report was leaked to the independent Serbian news station N1 on Tuesday and was picked up by several national tabloids, which claimed the results vindicated the government.

Serbian PM Ana Brnabić said: “This report puts an end to all the lies and nonsense about stolen elections.”

On Feb. 8 the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for an independent probe of the Serbian elections, which according to several MEPs fell “below the expected standards for an EU candidate country.”

Both Brnabić and Vučić rejected any international intervention, calling it a violation of the country’s sovereignty.

The Serbian Office of Media Relations didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.