With an urgent resolution adopted on Thursday, the European Parliament condemned irregularities reported during the recent elections in Serbia, called for an international investigation, and invited the continuation of the accession negotiation process to be conditioned on respecting EU democratic standards.
Serbia held local, parliamentary, and regional elections on December 17, 2023.
The resolution received strong support during the vote. 461 deputies voted in favor of the resolution out of 557 deputies present, only 53 voted against, while 43 abstained.
In the resolution text, which was the result of discussions among several political groups in the European Parliament, regret is expressed over Serbia’s failure to ensure the conduct of elections according to international standards and norms, as well as the refusal of Serbian authorities to acknowledge irregularities in the elections.
“We call for independent investigations by respected international experts and institutions into irregularities in parliamentary, regional, and local elections, with special attention to the elections for the Belgrade City Assembly,” the resolution states.
Andreas Schieder, a Member of the European Parliament who was also part of the European observation mission during the December 17 elections in Serbia, stated that this resolution sends a clear message to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and the ruling party that they must respect international democratic standards and take responsibility for systematic irregularities in the electoral process.
With this resolution, the European Parliament calls on the European Commission to consider sending a mission of experts to Serbia to assess the situation and developments following the recent elections and to make efforts to facilitate a social dialogue that would lead to restoring trust in institutions.
The European Parliament condemns the lack of political pluralism during the electoral process, favoritism towards the ruling party by the media during the campaign, numerous disinformation campaigns involving pro-government media in Serbia, as well as media and organizations from Russia.
Among the most frequent irregularities in the elections in Serbia held on December 17, 2023, the European Parliament mentions the voting of citizens from other countries, especially from Bosnia and Herzegovina, in local elections, organized behavior of voters at polling stations by the ruling party, removal of voters from the register in some cases, unlawful enticing of voters, and other forms of violations of principles of free elections.
The resolution also condemns the excessive use of police forces in Serbia against demonstrators during protests against election irregularities. Additionally, Members of the European Parliament also condemn verbal attacks by Serbian government representatives against EU observers, as well as claims that EU countries were involved in organizing protests after the elections, claims that have not been substantiated in any case.
“The European Parliament also expresses regret over what it calls the ‘lack of vocal criticism from the European Commission’, especially from the enlargement commissioner, in a series of doubts about electoral fraud in Serbia, and calls on the Commission to address these issues without delay,” the text states.
Many Members of the European Parliament, commenting on the adopted resolution, stated that a candidate state for EU membership, such as Serbia, must respect the common values of democracy, and free elections are one of the fundamental standards.
European Parliament resolutions do not have binding power for the EU, but they represent a political stance of this EU institution.
Reports from local and international monitoring organizations, including the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) mission, indicated electoral irregularities in the December 17 elections in Serbia. The ruling SNS party and state leadership have dismissed these accusations.
On December 18, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) announced that the elections were accompanied by irregularities, misuse of public funds, media dominance by President Aleksandar Vučić, negative campaigning, and fear mongering.
Serbian President Vučić has previously denied allegations of irregularities in the elections and rejected calls for an international investigation into alleged irregularities in the recent parliamentary and local elections.
