Serbia’s Electoral Commission Rejects Complaints: Vučić Not in Conflict of Interest as Electoral List Holder

Serbia’s Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) rejected on Wednesday evening as unfounded citizens’ complaints about a conflict of interest in connection with the “Aleksandar Vučić – Ujedinjena Srbija” (United Serbia) electoral list, whose holder is Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who continues to exercise the office of head of state.

At the RIK session, 17 of the 20 members present voted against accepting the complaints, while only two voted in favor. One of the complaints had been filed by the director of BIRODI (the Bureau for Social Research), Zoran Gavrilović, acting in his capacity as a voter.

RIK member Sofija Mandić said during the debate that the commission had a duty to seek the opinion of the Anti-Corruption Agency, since the agency itself had not acted on its official duty at the moment the president publicly announced he would lend his name to the electoral list. According to her, the president himself acknowledged the existence of a conflict of interest when he announced he would resign and enter the campaign as an ordinary citizen.

RIK president Vladimir Dimitrijević, on the other hand, claimed that in no European Union country is there a ban on candidacy for an electoral list — not even in Serbia, except for Croatia — and urged the commission’s members to respect political neutrality and impartiality in their work.

The RIK decision clears the way for the “Aleksandar Vučić – United Serbia” list to take part in the upcoming elections without additional legal obstacles, while the public debate over the compatibility of the presidential function with the role of list holder is expected to continue.

Source: Danas