Early Parliamentary Elections, 11 May 2008

Following an invitation from the Speaker of the Parliament, ODIHR deployed a limited election observation mission on 3 April to observe the parliamentary elections on 11 May.

Headed by Nikolai Vulchanov of Bulgaria, the mission consisted of a 10-member core team of analysts based in Belgrade, and 24 long-term observers deployed on 14 April to 12 locations throughout the country. Core team experts and LTOs were drawn from 20 OSCE participating States.

In view of past findings on election-day proceedings in Serbia, ODIHR did not consider the deployment of short-term observers to be necessary, and did not undertake systematic or comprehensive observation of election-day proceedings.

ODIHR co-operated with delegations from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe who deployed observers for election day.

According to the mission's final report: "The 11 May 2008 early elections to the National Assembly (Parliament) of the Republic of Serbia were overall conducted in line with OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections, although they were overshadowed, in part, by a few negative aspects of the campaign. These elections provided a genuine opportunity for the citizens of Serbia to choose freely from a range of political parties and coalitions."