European Parliament Sends Seven Observers to Serbia Vote

The European Parliament has officially confirmed that it received an invitation from the Serbian authorities to observe the snap parliamentary election on October 25 and that it is sending a delegation of seven MEPs to Serbia. The formal invitation arrived on Saturday, October 10, from Ana Brnabic, Speaker of the Serbian National Assembly and acting President of the Republic.

The European Parliament’s press office said in a statement that the decision on the mission had been made in advance:

“Since the mission has already been approved, provided that the invitation arrives, Parliament will decide tonight on the names of the MEPs who will travel.”

The names are therefore being set tonight, October 12. The delegation’s constituent meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 14, when its chair will also be elected. Who that will be is not yet known.

Why did the invitation arrive at the last minute?

The formal deadline for receiving the invitation expired on October 8, at a meeting of the Conference of Presidents, which brings together the President of the European Parliament and the leaders of the political groups. The Conference decided then that planning for the mission would continue in parallel, so that preparations could go on if the invitation arrived in time. Parliament was ready to wait until Monday, October 12 at the latest, so the October 10 invitation came within that window.

Green MEP Vladimir Prebilic told N1 that the invitation came “at five minutes to midnight,” but that the mission is coming. He added:

“The international community cannot send just any mission to Belgrade, or to any country, if an official invitation does not arrive.”

Prebilic is critical of the way the invitation was issued: “This is a message in itself, because if an invitation is sent this way, it is not very good.”

What does Prebilic say about voting conditions?

Prebilic says the European Parliament has received emails and data from different parts of the world about difficulties with voting in the diaspora, which in his assessment shows that “it is not a fair game.” He also claims that the number of people in the diaspora who want to vote has tripled.

According to him, the European Parliament and Commissioner Marta Kos asked that the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) start functioning and that the voter rolls be cleaned up, but none of that has happened. If it turns out after the election, on October 26, that the rules were not enforced, congratulations from Brussels will be postponed, Prebilic said. “The first position is that elections must be legal and legitimate,” he said.

The authorities’ response to these claims is not part of the statements published as of the closing of this text.

When did the European Parliament last observe elections in Serbia?

The last time was at the snap parliamentary election on December 17, 2023. The delegation then had five MEPs and operated within the international mission led by the OSCE and ODIHR. The current delegation has two more members.