Foreign Ministry Proposes 90 Polling Stations Abroad

Serbia’s Foreign Ministry has proposed to the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) that 90 polling stations abroad be opened for the snap parliamentary elections on October 25. RIK deputy member David Krstic, from the “Student List - Students Win” slate, announced that he will ask for amendments to the proposal at today’s meeting of the working group on voting abroad. The deadline for registering voters abroad expired at 11:59 p.m. Serbian time on October 3, and RIK members received the proposal only after that.

What is the Foreign Ministry proposing?

According to Krstic, there were 81 polling stations abroad at the 2023 elections, and 90 are now proposed. RIK member Dusan Dincic says there were 80 at the last parliamentary elections, so the two commission members differ by one station.

Speaking on N1 television, Krstic said 80,800 requests to vote abroad have been processed so far, and then relayed a figure from the Commission for the Revision of the Voter Registry:

“The information we received from the Commission for the Revision of the Voter Registry is that the figure is already at 91,000, and it is expected to reach around 100,000. That is an increase of almost three times compared to the previous elections. Given that, the Foreign Ministry’s proposal itself is shameful.”

In his assessment, the proposal is merely “cosmetic”: “Last time, in the 2023 elections, there was one polling station, now there are 90, but that increase is, I can freely say, cosmetic in nature, because no account was taken of where our citizens registered the most,” Krstic said.

Which places are left without a polling station?

Krstic named several specific examples, starting with Vancouver:

“Vancouver, which was a polling station at the previous elections, and now, according to our information, has almost 1,500 of our citizens registered there, and under the current proposal they will all have to vote in Ottawa, which is some 3,500 or 4,000 kilometers away.”

Voters on the US West Coast, he said, are directed to Chicago or Washington, for example, more than 2,000 kilometers away. Australia is also disputed, since there is no polling station in Perth, nor in the Emirates and Saudi Arabia. “Where there is great interest, there are no polling stations. For example, there is no polling station in Herceg Novi, which has traditionally been a polling station,” Krstic said.

For comparison, Dincic said a polling station is opened when at least 100 voters register in a city, while Krstic points to almost 1,500 registered in Vancouver alone.

Why is voting on Belgrade time disputed?

Krstic also challenges the ministry’s rationale on voting hours:

“The Foreign Ministry is proposing to the Republic Electoral Commission that voting in countries in other time zones be held on Belgrade time, from seven a.m. to 8 p.m. That puts us in a situation where people, for example in the United States, Canada and so on, would vote from one in the morning until 2 p.m. So, most of election day would fall during the night.”

The deputy RIK member said the proposal undermines the right to vote, and reminded the state of its obligation: “When the state guarantees certain human rights, it is not only bound to refrain from violating them, it also has, on the other hand, a duty to enable its citizens to exercise those rights as prescribed by the Constitution itself. In these situations we see that those citizens are effectively prevented from voting.”

What does the Student List say?

The Student List also issued a statement on October 4, calling the Ministry’s proposal a “shameful attempt to sabotage the electoral process”. It recalled how responsibilities are divided:

“We remind the public and the competent authorities: the Foreign Ministry does not determine polling stations. Under the law, only RIK is competent to make the final decision. However, the very act of sending such a shameful proposal clearly shows the authorities’ intention to pressure RIK through their ministries and to resort to the lowest legal manipulations so that polling stations are simply erased.”

In the same statement, the slate told the authorities: “For years you publicly glorify the diaspora, invoke its patriotism and live off the money it sends to its families back home, and today you spit directly in its face and propose to take away its basic constitutionally guaranteed right: the right to vote.” It also demanded that the authorities “stop treating the diaspora as an ATM”.

What did RIK expect, and what comes next?

We reported recently that 73,000 voters had registered to vote abroad. A few days ago, Dincic told the Beta news agency that there is “enormous interest among our citizens in voting abroad” and that, based on the interest so far, he expects 130 polling stations. The Ministry’s proposal is 40 stations below that expectation. Dincic also said then that RIK should adopt the proposal by Sunday at the latest, and that the voter registry in municipalities is closed on October 9.

The final decision on polling stations rests with RIK, and the working group meeting with Foreign Ministry representatives takes place today. The Ministry’s response to the objections from Krstic and the Student List was not available at the time of writing.