Tonight’s pre-election gathering of the Serbia Against Violence Coalition which culminated with an assembly before the Republic Electoral Commission headquarters and cries that the Republic Electoral Commission “should not play games” with the votes of the assembled citizens is an unacceptable pressure on the institutions that need to conduct the upcoming elections as well as an attempt to undermine their independence and integrity.
This is an obvious intention to use accusations against the Republic Electoral Commission, local electoral commissions and polling boards to stir unease among the citizens and additionally impede the work of the bodies for the conduct of the elections with unfounded and unacceptable insinuations that an election fraud is being prepared, all for the purpose of justifying a potential failure in the elections.
This is an attempt to create the impression in part of the public that somebody else is sitting in the Republic Electoral Commission other than representatives of precisely those who are warning the Republic Electoral Commission of its obligation to obey the law.
Recently, just before the beginning of the election silence and a mere five days before the vote, the Republic Electoral Commission is has been facing unacceptable pressure and demands to make the decision to, counter to the recommendations of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), change the way the privacy screen is positioned in a given polling station by having it not face the wall so that no one can see how the voter has voted, but the other way around, toward the members of the polling board, which would directly jeopardize the secrecy of the ballot.
Despite all pressures, the Republic Electoral Commission will remain consistent in its obligation to conduct the whole election process in line with the law and ODIHR recommendations.
