Serbian diaspora at risk of losing voting rights as embassies fail to answer registration requests

In recent days, more and more Serbian citizens living abroad have complained that diplomatic-consular missions are not confirming receipt of their voter registration requests, or are giving them incomplete and unclear information about the status of their applications. With the deadline expiring on October 3, the slow and non-transparent administration risks leaving many diaspora voters without confirmation of registration and without key information on where and how they can vote.

Serbia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially justifies itself with overload and lack of capacity to process all requests in time, while at the time of publication it had not answered the questions of the newsroom of the Belgrade daily Danas. Experts warn this is a direct threat to the right to vote, guaranteed by the constitution.

Sofija Mandić, a member of the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) and a jurist, explains that citizens register at embassies and consulates, and based on the number of applications the Foreign Ministry proposes, while the RIK sets the polling stations abroad. She says the RIK has set up a Working Group for voting abroad, after voters reported from the start delays by embassies and consulates in informing them about the procedure, as well as failure to confirm receipt of requests.

Danijela Nestorović, a former member of the Working Group for improving the electoral process, says electoral conditions are catastrophic. She explains that the request is submitted at an embassy or consulate, which forwards it to the competent municipal or city administration in Serbia, which decides on registration. She urges citizens who receive no response to keep the request and proof of sending, to request written confirmation of receipt and information on the decision, and says that against a negative decision they can appeal to the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government within 24 hours of receiving the decision.

Pavle Dimitrijević of the CRTA organization recalls that the deadline expires on October 3 at midnight and requests arriving after that will not be processed. According to him, the Foreign Ministry’s proposal for polling stations abroad is expected on October 4, as the RIK is obliged to officially announce the polling stations by October 5. The Ministry has the greatest responsibility to help citizens and to open polling stations wherever the formal condition of at least 100 voters is met.