CoE Congress observers: Separate dates for each election

Savet Evrope
REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

Council of Europe (CoE) observers at the Serbian elections said on Monday that elections for different levels of government should be avoided and separate election days organized.

“Due to the simultaneous holding of three elections in Belgrade and 12 other municipalities on the same day, voter turnout was high in some places and led to long queues, especially before the polls closed. The conduct of concurrent elections for different levels of government should be avoided in the future, and a separate Election Day should be dedicated for local and regional self-government to avoid that Presidential or Parliamentary elections overshadow local issues,” the head of the CoE Congress of Local and Regional Authorities Carla Dejonghe said.

She said that the voting in the seven cities they observed was calm but that polling stations were overcrowded. “The Serbian authorities should optimise the management of polling stations, ensuring, at the same time, transparent monitoring of the elections by party observers,” she said and called the authorities to further develop the training of poll workers with the aim of professionalising them.

“The Congress delegation witnessed, on several occasions, situations where voters came to the polling stations with invitations addressed to deceased people. The existence of so-called phantom voters on the voters’ lists continues to undermine public trust and confidence in elections and in democracy,“ warned Dejonghe, calling for an independent audit of the voters’ lists.