The parliamentary elections in Serbia were administered efficiently despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but dominance of the ruling party, including in the media, was a cause for concern. These are some of the main conclusions from the 21 June 2020 elections, as detailed in the final report published by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

The report offers 29 recommendations to improve the conduct of elections, and increase the transparency of and public confidence in the electoral process.

Recommendations

Key recommendations include:

• Revising the legal framework - in a public procedure, following a broad, inclusive and timely consultation - to ensure legal certainty and compliance with OSCE commitments and international standards
• Putting in place measures to prevent misuse of office and state resources, and ensuring effective monitoring of compliance, including through proportionate sanctions
• Preventing the practice of pressuring voters by ensuring that cases of alleged constraint are thoroughly investigated
• Introducing reporting and disclosure requirements of campaign income and expenditure prior to election day
• Making voter lists available for public scrutiny while ensuring both data privacy and lawful access
• Strengthening the independence of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media and explicitly defining its responsibilities during the campaign period, including the possibility to take timely actions based on systematic monitoring of election coverage
• Ensuring prompt publication by polling stations of all scanned protocols and results, including those corrected later in the process or determined by repeat elections

ODIHR deployed a Special Election Assessment Mission on 6 June 2020 to observe the parliamentary elections in Serbia.

All 57 countries across the OSCE region have formally committed to follow up promptly on ODIHR’s election assessments and recommendations.