At the 38th session of the Republic Electoral Commission, chaired by Vladimir Dimitrijevic, Chairperson of the Republic Electoral Commission, the REC adopted the Decree to conduct a repeat vote at the polling stations where it was noted was noted that results of the vote cannot be determined and where the vote in the parliamentary elections conducted on 17 December 2023 was annulled. The repeat vote will be conducted at 28 polling stations on Saturday, 30 December 2023, in the period between 7 am to 8 pm.
At the session, the Chairperson of the Republic Electoral Commission, Vladimir Dimitrijevic, informed the members of the Republic Electoral Commission, as well as the wider public, representatives of domestic and foreign observers and the media, about the request submitted by the Coalition Serbia Against Violence to the Republic Electoral Commission to call and conduct new elections for councillors of the Belgrade City Assembly, that the Republic Electoral Commission cannot in any way be involved in the conduct of the current election procedure in Belgrade, and is even less able to influence the calling of new elections. He pointed out that the City Electoral Commission of the City of Belgrade is solely and exclusively competent to, in accordance with the Law on Local Elections, order a repeat vote at certain the polling stations where the vote was annulled, but not order a repeat of the entire election. He noted that the City Electoral Commission can annul the vote at a polling station either ex officio, in cases defined by law, or in a procedure for the protection of the right to vote based on submitted objections to the vote, which, he emphasised, is the only legal way and depends on the City Electoral Commission.
He added that the repeat of the entire election procedure depends exclusively on other state bodies, and in no way on the will of the body for conducting elections, and so, he emphasised, neither the Republic Electoral Commission nor the Belgrade City Electoral Commission can influence whether repeat elections would be called or not, their task is, once they have been called, to make sure the elections which they are responsible for are conducted in accordance with the Law on the Election of MPs, that is, the Law on Local Elections. Whether new elections will be called after the end of the current elections for councillors of the Belgrade City Assembly depends solely on the fulfilment of the legal conditions stipulated by the Law on Local Self-Government, i.e. if the new Belgrade City Assembly is not constituted within two months of the announcement of the election results, or if constituted, does not elect a mayor within one month from the date of constitution, or if it does not meet for longer than three months.
He repeated that the Republic Electoral Commission has no right to supervise the Belgrade City Electoral Commission on any basis, given that the City Electoral Commission is not the body for the conduct of elections for National Assembly members, nor is the Republic Electoral Commission the body for the conduct of local elections, not even the elections for councillors of the Belgrade City Assembly, based on which it should be clear to everyone that the Republic Electoral Commission is not competent, nor can it act on the submitted request.
In the continuation of the session, the Republic Electoral Commission passed the Decision on the shape, appearance, colour and content of the ballot and the colour of the control card to test the integrity of the ballot box for the conduct of the repeat vote in the parliamentary elections called for 30 December 2023, Decision determining the number of ballots for the conduct of the repeat vote, as well as the Decision on cost compensation for the conduct of the repeat vote.
The REC also adopted decisions on the correction of polling board minutes on the conducted vote in the parliamentary elections at two polling stations abroad, polling station 23 in Bosnia and Herzegovina and polling station 52 in Russia, as well as the Decision on dismissal in the Municipal Electoral Commission of the municipality of Kursumlija.
