May 9 (SeeNews) - The latest snap elections in Serbia indicate a severe decline of democracy and media environment in the country, Belgrade-based political analyst Sofija Mandic told SeeNews on Monday.
The early elections, held on April 24 and followed by a partial revote on Wednesday over voting irregularities, were called by president Tomislav Nikolic at the proposal of prime minister Aleksandar Vucic, who has said the move would help Serbia unblock reforms and prepare for EU membership. Two years ago Vucic again forced early elections, seeking broader public support to push through overdue reforms.
Holding early parliamentary elections for a third time over the past four years speaks enough for the state of democracy in the country, Sofija Mandic, a research analyst with the independent think-tank Belgrade Centre for Security Policy and columnist at web portal Pescanik.net, told SeeNews via email.
Add to the picture the discrepancies in the total numbers of registered voters between the various state bodies with deceased and non-existing people included in voter lists, numerous frauds with ballot paper signatures and vote peddling, and it becomes evident that the elections are a big step back from the previously existing standards of free and fair elections in Serbia.
The analyst noted that the chairman of the Republic Electoral Commission formally abandoned the position two years ago due to conflict of interest since he is also member of the leadership of the ruling Progressive Party (SNS), but continued to serve as head of the the commission. Mandic also said that after the elections the commission dismissed complaints filed by the opposition about electoral irregularities without motivating its decision, while accepting as valid identical complaints by the ruling party.
Parliament will convene in the coming weeks and the new state institutions will be formed, but the question remains whether they were legitimately elected, Mandic concluded.
Final official results showed that the ruling coalition led by Serbia's conservative SNS party will have 131 MPs in the 250-seat parliament after winning 48.25% of the votes. The Serbian Socialist Party, led by deputy prime minister Ivica Dacic, and its partner United Serbia, will have 29 seats in parliament. They are followed by the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) of Vojislav Seselj with 22 representatives. Seven political formations crossed the 5% threshold for entry into parliament, including the far right Dveri-DSS coalition and the SRS of Seselj, who recently faced trial in The Hague for war crimes in former Yugoslavia.
Commenting on the elections, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) too has said they were marked by a number of irregularities.
Biased media coverage, undue advantage of incumbency and a blurring of distinction between state and party activities unleveled the playing field for contestants on the elections held over the weekend, the OSCE mission in Serbia said in a statement after the elections. Other key shortcomings include insufficient rules on candidate registration, ineffective measures against the misuse of administrative resources for campaigning, inadequate regulation of campaign finance, deficiencies in dispute resolution, absence of sanctions for certain violations, and the lack of provisions on observers, it added.