Sebek (RIK): Student List 141 Seats, SNS 103

The Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) meets today, October 28, at 7 pm in the small hall of the National Assembly building at 14 Kralja Milana Street in Belgrade, according to a press release that does not list an agenda. The deadline for objections to the results of the October 25 vote also expires today. Commission member Ivan Sebek told the Fonet agency that after the votes from abroad were processed, the Student List has 141 seats, one more than in the earlier distribution, and the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) list has 103, one fewer.

Those results are not final until the RIK proclaims them. The commission established the preliminary figures at its 70th session on October 26, chaired by RIK president Vladimir Dimitrijevic: with 97.56 percent of polling stations counted as of 8 pm, the Student List had 2,267,615 votes (52.71 percent) and the Aleksandar Vucic, United Serbia list had 1,685,022 votes (39.17 percent).

What is still uncounted?

Sebek said five or six records from abroad are still outstanding, including the one from Chicago, which he described as the largest polling station. In his assessment, the records still awaited should not change the balance of power.

Where will the vote be repeated?

Sebek said a repeat vote is expected at about 50 of roughly 8,300 polling stations in Serbia. That is an expectation, not a decision about specific stations. For a repeat vote, the local electoral commission appoints a new polling board, and its members, he explained, can also come from other cities.

“I can come from Belgrade to Lebane and sit on a polling board. At parliamentary elections, a polling board member does not have to be from that municipality, while at local elections they do,” Sebek said.

When could final results be published?

Two timelines are circulating in public. According to the headline of the Novi Sad portal 021, RIK member Dusan Dincic said the deadline for objections expires on Wednesday and that final results are possible on Thursday, October 29. Sebek spoke today about the sequence: local electoral commissions have 96 hours to prepare summary reports from the moment the results at all of their polling stations become final, and the RIK has 96 hours from receiving the summary reports of all municipalities and cities to publish the overall report. That report, he said, cannot be prepared until voting is finished at every station where it was annulled.

“If an objection is filed at a polling station and upheld, or if there is no objection but there are other grounds to annul the vote and repeat it ex officio, the summary report will not be prepared until voting is held again at that polling station,” Sebek explained.

In his assessment, the repeat vote should not significantly delay the publication of final results. The date therefore remains open: Dincic mentioned Thursday, while Sebek tied the overall report to the repeat vote, without naming a day.

“There is no reason for concern or tension, because regardless of the repeat vote and the shifting deadlines, final results cannot be kept waiting and postponed indefinitely,” Sebek said.

What does proclamation mean for the Assembly?

Once final results are proclaimed, the clock starts on constituting the new Assembly. Under the Constitution, the first session must be held no later than 30 days from that moment, and the Assembly is constituted once the mandates of at least two thirds of its deputies are confirmed.