Sofija Mandić, a member of the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) and executive director of the Center for Judicial Research, said that the electoral process looks the same as in 2023 and stressed that these elections will be irregular whoever wins.
Sofija Mandić pointed out that all the problems that existed in the December 2023 elections are still present now.
When it comes to phantom lists, she says the situation is worse because the electoral law has been changed, allowing the same person to sign multiple lists.
“Whoever shows up with those boxes, regardless of whether they have been certified in accordance with the law, can run,” the RIK member told N1.
Regarding the voter register, she said the situation is the same and added that it still contains around 900,000 more adults than the population census data shows.
“There is no effective mechanism to clean up the voter register,” she stressed.
Commenting on media conditions, Mandić says that President Aleksandar Vučić appeared in the media four times more than during the previous elections. She also recalled that until now he had given his name to an electoral list, while this time he is the first candidate on the SNS list.
She said that this was one of the objections submitted to the RIK, which was rejected as unfounded, and that an appeal had been filed with the Constitutional Court.
“If the president is not in a conflict of interest, then a conflict of interest as such does not exist. Our Constitution explicitly prohibits conflicts of interest. Our laws require him to report any potential conflict of interest, and the Agency is obliged to issue a statement on the matter ex officio,” Mandić said.
The RIK member pointed out that there are positions within the Commission that this is not within the body’s jurisdiction and that the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption should deal with it. Mandić responds that the legal system cannot be viewed in such a way that everyone speaks partially about what they think, without any real effect on people’s lives.
“We must have the competent authorities issue their positions in a timely manner,” Mandić said.
As she explained, the right to decide should be returned to the electoral commissions, instead of politics, which, she stressed, is making the decisions now.
“Decisions are made in groups and then voted on. And some of us, who are trying to be professional, are obliged to act in accordance with the law while serving on the electoral commission, and when we point all this out, we are labeled as being politically motivated, as wanting to bring down one list,” the interviewee of Danica Vučenić said.
She says that the power of the group that is not obliged to vote in a particular way was considerable, but that it will decline as the number of lists entering the RIK increases.
“We saw that in 2023. The idea is to outvote us, and that is why major disputes will end up before the Administrative Court. My assessment is that the RIK will not be able to deal with the objections in a legally sound manner,” Mandić assessed.
“The elections will be irregular whoever wins”
Asked how the validity of the election result can be discussed under such conditions, Mandić noted that this is a difficult question because the elections will be irregular whoever wins.
“We cannot say that if the SNS wins, the elections were stolen, and if the Student List wins, they were not. The only question is whether those who organized this election theft, and it is being carried out by institutions and the media, which are controlled by one party or coalition, will calculate enough to allow the Student List to have a majority. If it has a majority, it will be their political responsibility to say — we have overtaken you, but only enough to provide you with electoral legislation and conditions for a shorter period and to establish free institutions so that we can all freely express our views,” the RIK member said.
She asked how we will be able to live with this for four years if the SNS has 40 percent that does not belong to it, even if it ends up in opposition.
Demand to call elections — a call to dive headfirst into an empty pool
Commenting on the students’ demand that elections be called, Mandić said they in the RIK were surprised by it and described it as a call “to jump into a pool without water, headfirst.”
“It is somewhat of a vicious circle, because the elections have to be conducted by institutions, it is like chasing your own tail. The problem is that the whole issue of electoral conditions seems irrelevant to political actors, especially when they receive backing. The entire process is so contaminated that your strength cannot compensate for the flaws of the procedure,” Mandić pointed out.
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“Narodna Srbija should consider withdrawing its list”
The “Narodna Srbija” coalition, consisting of the People’s Movement of Serbia, Ecological Uprising and New Face of Serbia, initially announced that it would participate in the elections, only to hold a press conference on September 15 in front of the RIK headquarters and announce the withdrawal of its list from the elections.
After that statement, coalition representatives entered the RIK, submitted the signatures, and the usual procedure for verifying the list began. The list was subsequently proclaimed, but it has not been withdrawn, as the coalition had announced.
Mandić says she assumes that “Narodna Srbija” submitted the signatures in order to show that they had not abandoned the elections because they could not gather support from citizens.
“That created noise and confusion, because as soon as you submit the signatures, the list enters the proclamation process and is in the race. The deadline for withdrawing electoral lists is October 9. Until that happens, that list is in the race, visible and equal to all the proclaimed lists. This can create certain problems for other lists, because those who came after that list — their numbers will shift, and they cannot communicate to voters what number they will have on the ballot,” Mandić pointed out regarding the problem that has arisen.
She points out that this is a political moment of emotions, that there is a festival-like atmosphere in the streets, but that the decision on whether to participate in the elections should be made rationally.
“Some decisions need to be made rationally, above all an assessment of whether the Student List will be able to do it on its own. If it cannot, should it depend on the SPS or New DSS or someone else? I listened to them last night, they say they will have 50 percent plus one. As a citizen, I am not sure that is realistic,” the guest on “Iza vesti” assessed, adding that both the Student List and the opposition should think about this.
“They should think carefully, October 9 is the deadline for withdrawing all lists, and if it is assessed that the decision to participate could cause political harm, then that indicates that something else should be done,” Mandić said.
She also highlighted what she called “terrible pressure” not to participate in the elections and criticized all those telling the opposition that it has no right and should not go to the elections.
“Despite everything and the referendum-like atmosphere, we must preserve pluralism and we must preserve political parties,” the RIK member told political actors.
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Source: Nova ; Foto:BETAPHOTO/Press-centar UNS
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