The Statement of Civil Society Organizations on Violations of Human Rights in the Elections Held on December 17

22 Dec The Statement of Civil Society Organizations on Violations of Human Rights in the Elections Held on December 17

As signatories representing civil society organizations, we draw attention to the unacceptable violation of human rights of all citizens of Serbia throughout the entire electoral process conducted in the country, starting from the announcement of extraordinary parliamentary and local elections on November 1, 2023, through the actions of the Republic Electoral Commission and the City Electoral Commission for the city of Belgrade, leading up to the election day on December 17, 2023.

The elections held cannot be deemed fair or free for a significant number of citizens. As such, they fail to reflect the true will of the citizens of Serbia, undermining the legitimacy of the institutions that would be formed based on the results of these elections and the legitimacy of all future decisions they would make. Serious irregularities, numerous abuses, violations of electoral rights, rules, and procedures, as well as reports from election observers and materials that became public before and during the election day, problems with voter lists, and electoral lists declared by the City Electoral Commission despite serious doubts that they were based on forged statements of support from voters (even 7 out of a total of 14 electoral lists) have completely delegitimized the elections.

International observers from the joint observation mission of the OSCE and ODIHR, including representatives from the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, highlighted irregularities during the pre-election campaign, including the misuse of public funds and media with national frequency, the absolute media dominance of President Aleksandar Vučić, and attacks on journalists and civil society organizations. On the day of voting, they observed instances of unacceptable group voting, pressure on voters, vote-buying, forged ballot papers in the ballot boxes, and examples of so-called phantom voters.

Although elections in a democratic society represent a mechanism through which citizens transfer sovereignty to their representatives in national and local parliaments, the electoral process marked by the above-mentioned irregularities can only lead to the conclusion that civic sovereignty in Serbia has been stolen from the citizens. In this situation, the lack of response from institutions to violations and abuses of rights and procedures leads to the disheartening conclusion that citizens are left to fend for themselves in protecting their rights and building institutions. It is not surprising, therefore, that dissatisfied citizens gather in the streets and, through their political rights to assembly and expression, express serious disagreement with the electoral process conducted so far, demanding that the Constitution and laws of Serbia apply to everyone and must be respected.

We believe that the will of the citizens was not respected in the elections held on December 17, and the relevant institutions must consider nullifying and repeating the elections at the national and local levels under conditions where the mentioned irregularities are rectified. Only in this way will the institutions of Serbia demonstrate that they respect the rule of law and the electoral will of the citizens of Serbia.

This statement is signed by:

ASTRA
Atina NVO
Autonomni ženski centar
Beogradski centar za bezbednosnu politiku

Beogradski centar za ljudska prava
Centar za dostojanstven rad
Centar za kulturnu dekomntaminaciju CZKD
Centar za savremene politike
Centar za pravosudna istraživanja Cepris
CRTA
Evropski pokret u Srbiji
FemPlatz
Građanske inicijative
Inicijativa mladih za ljudska prava
Inicijativa za prava osoba sa mentalnim invaliditetom MDRI-S
Novi optimizam
PIN (Mreža psihosocijalnih inovacija)
Slavko Ćuruvija Fondacija
SOS Ženski centar
Udruženje žena Peščanik
Udruženje KROKODIL