13 June 2018

Republic Electoral Commission Chairperson and Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Sign Agreement on Specification of Planned Expenses for Conduct of Election of National Minority Council Members

The Chairperson of the Republic Electoral Commission Vladimir Dimitrijevic and the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Branko Ruzic signed an Agreement on the specification of the sum planned expenses for the conduct of the election of members of the national councils of national minorities.

Following the signing of the Agreement at the National Assembly, which is currently debating three minority policy bills at an extraordinary session, REC Chairperson Dimitrijevic and Minister Ruzic announced that the election for national minority council members would be called in August and conducted in November.

They also said that this is the beginning of preparations for the conduct of the election process, something the REC and the Ministry would be working closely on.

The signing of the Agreement was attended by REC Secretary Srdjan Smiljanic and Assistant and Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Ivana Antic.

7 April 2017

Republic Electoral Commission to Announce Final Presidential Election Results after Repeat Vote on 11 April

“Concerning presidential candidate Sasa Jankovic’s false information that the legal deadline for the Republic Electoral Commission to announce the final results of the presidential election has expired, it is my duty to deny such allegations and point out that the former Ombudsman has clearly forgotten the fact that the Republic Electoral Commission has annulled the vote at eight polling stations and decided to have a repeat vote at said stations on 11 April 2017.

In view of this I must stress that the Republic Electoral Commission will be able to ascertain the final results of the presidential election, as required by law, and announce them only after the completion of the repeat vote at the eight polling stations on 11 April and until then, according to the law, the Republic Electoral Commission can only announce provisional results”, said the Chairperson of the Republic Electoral Commission Vladimir Dimitrijevic.

2 April 2017

OSCE Mission in Kosovo-Metohija Ascertains Insufficient Security to Count Votes at Polling Stations

The Office for Kosovo-Metohija sent the following statement to the Republic Electoral Commission.

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 10, paragraph 2 of the Instructions for the conduct of the presidential election called for 2 April 2017 on the territory of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo-Metohija adopted by the Republic Electoral Commission at its session on 23 March of this year, we inform you that we have received a memo from the OSCE Mission in Kosovo-Metohija today, 2 April 2017, at 7 pm, in which the Head of the Mission Mr. Jan Braathu informs us that the OSCE Mission in Kosovo-Metohija has assessed that the security situation is inadequate to allow unsealing the ballot boxes and counting the votes at the polling stations on the territory of AP Kosovo-Metohija and the Mission will follow the provisions of the Instructions establishing the measures to be undertaken in said situation.

2 April 2017

Velimir Ilic on Voters Register

“Concerning the information shared by some media that the President of New Serbia Velimir Ilic was unable to vote in today’s presidential election at the polling station where he has been voting for over 20 years, because, as reported, according to the polling board he was not listed on the voters’ register, it is my duty to inform you that, by checking the Uniform Register of Voters via the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Velimir ilic is registered as voter at polling station 94 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL “ST.SAVA” in Cacak, 245 Dr Dragise Misovica St, as number 369 on the voters’ register excerpt”, said the Chairperson of the Republic Electoral Commission Vladimir Dimitrijevic.

28 March 2017

Telling Valid and Invalid Ballots Apart According to Polling Board Operating Rules in Place Since 2008

Regarding the text published on the Blic internet portal and conveyed by some other internet portals about telling apart valid from invalid ballot papers, it is my duty to most severely deny the allegations that “the Republic Electoral Commission would in the coming election be far more tolerant of the voters than ever before”.

Namely, the provisions of the Polling Board Operating Rules and the instructions how to distinguish between valid and invalid ballot papers i.e. which ballots to accept as valid, has not been changed since the parliamentary elections held on 11 May 2008, meaning that the Polling Board Operating Rules have been virtually taken from the Polling Board Operating Rules for the coordinated conduct of all elections called for 11 May 2008, published in the Republic of Serbia Official Gazette No. 30/08.

In all the elections from 2008 onward, the polling boards are asked to pay close attention to every ballot paper and invest efforts into ascertaining every voter’s vote by establishing who they voted for no matter the manner in which their choice was expressed. This election is therefore no exception and there have been no new instructions for the polling boards.

I would like to stress that the Polling Board Operating Rules in force have practically taken over the identical provisions from the 2008 Operating Rules according to which even a ballot paper containing comments, slogans or other messages in writing or as drawings, or where the names of the other candidates or their nominators have been scratched out, is still a valid ballot, providing, of course, that it can be ascertained which candidate the voter had voted for.

24 March 2017

Republic Electoral Commission and OSCE Mission in Pristina to Ensure Safe and Regulated Voting in Kosovo-Metohija

The Republic Electoral Commission is in touch with the OSCE Mission in Pristina to make sure the voting in the coming presidential election on the territory of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo-Metohija is conducted in a secure manner regulated by law, so as to uphold the Constitutional voting right of all of our citizens in Kosovo-Metohija.

This model of cooperation between the Republic Electoral Commission and the OSCE to conduct elections in Kosovo-Metohija has been in place since 2012, is well developed and means the presence of OSCE representatives at each polling station and control of the electoral material at all times.

“I find the allegations of a planned voter fault hateful, since every polling station would be attended, in addition to the OSCE representatives, by a two-third majority of electoral board members from the ranks of the parliamentary opposition who have the right and duty to conduct the voting at the polling stations, and monitor the transportation of the electoral material after the voting, the safety of which would once again reside in the hands of the OSCE.

In view of the excellent cooperation with the OSCE in Kosovo-Metohija, I am baffled by the opinions aired in the media doubting the impartiality of an international organization such as the OSCE”, said the Chairperson of the Republic Electoral Commission Vladimir Dimitrijevic.

23 March 2017

No Reason to Doubt Legitimacy of Electoral Process in Kosovo-Metohija

Concerning the statement of the New Serbia - Movement for Serbia’s Salvation Parliamentary Group, I would like to stress that when passing the Instructions for the conduct of the voting in the presidential election called for 2 April 2017 on the territory of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo-Metohija, the Republic Electoral Commission followed the ruling of the Constitutional Court and strived to make it possible for the citizens of the Republic of Serbia residing in Kosovo-Metohija who believe Kosovo-Metohija to be an integral part of the Republic of Serbia to exercise their Constitutional right and participate in the election of the state authorities of the Republic of Serbia.

It is my duty to point out that, starting from the 2012 parliamentary and presidential elections, all the electoral processes on the territory of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo-Metohija are conducted with the support and under the patronage of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In that regard the coming presidential election on 2 April pose no precedent. The opposition has no reason to doubt the legitimacy of the election process in Kosovo-Metohija because by adopting the Instructions for the conduct of the election in the southern Serbian province the Republic Electoral Commission made sure that the ruling coalition has one, and the opposition two polling board members at every polling station, and for the entirety of the electoral process every polling station will have an OSCE representative.

As the Chairperson of the Republic Electoral Commission I would like to condemn the abuse of the security policy situation in Kosovo-Metohija in order to accuse the Republic Electoral Commission of planning electoral fraud.

23 March 2017

Republic Electoral Commission Introduces Series of Innovations and Implements Numerous ODIHR Recommendations from Previous Elections in Current Electoral Process

We would like to thank the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) for responding to our invitation and taking part in the monitoring of the presidential election.

The mutual interest in continued cooperation for the purpose of advancing the electoral process was recognized in official contacts.

So far, the need for ODIHR election monitoring was assessed for which purpose the ODIHR Election Assessment Mission was sent to Serbia to monitor a range of aspects of the electoral process (electoral administration, campaigns and their funding, as well as the media).

In the meeting with the Mission which is to observe the presidential election in was noted that the Republic Electoral Commission had in the current election process introduced a series of innovations thus implementing a number of ODIHR recommendations from previous elections.

OSCE/ODIHR is one of the most active and renowned international election procedure monitors and its contribution to the implementation of the ongoing process has been recognized by the Republic Electoral Commission and others.

22 March 2017

ODIHR Delegation Visits the Republic Electoral Commission

A delegation of the Republic Electoral Commission headed by Chairperson Vladimir Dimitrijevic met today with a delegation of the OSCE/ODIHR Mission headed by Alexandre Keltchewsky to assess the presidential election monitoring needs.

REC Chairperson Vladimir Dimitrijevic briefed the delegation on the innovations the Commission had introduced into its operation following the law and ODIHR recommendations. Dimitrijevic said that, in the course of the pre-election activities, the REC would organize trainings for all polling board members i.e. the coordinators – REC members, would train the representatives of the 161 working bodies who will in turn train their personnel comprising all the members of the standing and expanded composition at all polling stations. One more new thing is the polling board members having to wear IDs, and the acquisition of new, bigger and deeper voting screens to protect the voters’ privacy, said Dimitrijevic. For the transport and exchange of voting material between the working body and polling board before and after voting, it is to be gathered in sacks closed by security seals. Dimitrijevic also spoke of the new control form introduced to reduce the chance of error when recording the tally of votes before the result is entered into the main form. He said that the Republic Electoral Commission invested special efforts into facilitating voting for persons with disabilities and established the Working Group for the improvement of the voting process for persons with disabilities.

The head of the ODIHR delegation Alexandre Keltchewsky opined that the Republic Electoral Commission had invested impressive efforts to improve the organization of the electoral process as per ODIHR recommendations, stressing that good reciprocal cooperation both now and in the future is key. Keltchewsky added that he had found the majority of needed information on the REC website, translated into English, and commended the new website, both its appearance and update dynamics. Keltchewsky said that the OSCE/ODIHR Mission would be sending an Election Assessment Mission to presidential election on 2 April 2017 because due to a short notice it would be unable to send an observation mission.

In addition to the REC Chairperson, the meeting was also attended by Commission Secretary and Deputy Secretary Srdjan Smiljanic and Branko Marinkovic, respectively, Commission member Vesna Mizdrak, representative of the of the Republic Statistical Office Vladimir Sutic and advisors to the Republic Electoral Commission, while the ODIHR delegation also comprised the Mission Deputy Head Tatyana Hilscher Bogussevich, political analyst Andreas Rab, election analysts Vania Anguelova and Armen Mazmanzan, media analyst Ivan Godarsky and election advisor Ulvi Akhundlu.

22 March 2017

Printing of ballots for Presidential election starts

After the Republic Electoral Commission had adopted the Decision on the publication of the total number of voters in the Republic of Serbia and the Decree establishing the number of ballots for the voting in the presidential election called for 2 April 2017, today, the Official Gazette Public Enterprise printing house began printing the ballots.

The printing of the ballots for the election of President of the Republic began in the presence of the Chairperson of the Republic Electoral Commission Vladimir Dimitrijevic, Deputy Secretary Branko Marinkovic, the members of the Republic Electoral Commission, as well as representatives of the nominators and the observers authorized to monitor the work of the bodies in charge of conducting the election.

As previously determined by REC Decision, the colour of the ballot is turquoise, while the colour of the control card to test the integrity of the ballot box is peach.

6,757,793 ballots will be printed viz.: 6,724,172 which is the sum total of voters in the Republic of Serbia as noted on 17 March 2017, plus 33,621 spares, which is 0.5 % of the total number of voters in the Republic of Serbia, as stipulated by Law.