Zaječar and Kosjerić – campaign and abuses without control

While the highest officials of Serbia, in meetings with representatives of European institutions, promise to fulfill the key recommendations of the ODIHR, in the campaign for the elections in Zajecar and Kosjerić, the government is working directly contrary to these recommendations, but also to the existing laws.

The main reason is the passivity of key bodies that should ensure at least the implementation of the rules that already exist – the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and REM. In addition, for these politically important local elections, unlike those of June 2024, the ODIHR does not have an observation mission.

The most obvious examples of misuse of state and local self-government resources for the promotion of electoral lists, which are backed by the current republican and local authorities, concern the execution and promotion of public works, as well as through the official campaign, that is, the allegedly regular activities of public officials that are purposefully carried out in these two cities and in this period.

Since the announcement of the elections, members of the Government of Serbia have visited Zaječar more times than in the whole of 2024, while in Kosjerić, only in May this year, ministers have visited Kosjerić more than during the four years that have passed since the previous local elections in that municipality.

Contrary to the objections of the ODIHR from June 2024, in these elections, local electoral lists are promoted through the name and image of the President of the Republic.

Based on the available data, it can be concluded that the local budget was not enough for all the preelection investments, so, among other things, the national company "Roads of Serbia" was given the task of investing in the construction of about 45 kilometers of rural roads in Kosjerić.

High public prosecutor's offices in Niš and Kraljevo have not commented on the numerous publicly made allegations of pressure on voters and the giving of gifts or money in connection with the June 8 vote, although it is their special anti-corruption departments that would be responsible for such cases. It is still not too late for these two prosecutors’ offices to appoint their representatives who would be on duty in Zaječar and Kosjerić in the days leading up to the elections, to present to the citizens that all actions related to the elections have the characteristics of a criminal offense and to encourage citizens to report such crimes to them.

The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, so far, has not published information that it has ex officio initiated proceedings against a party or public official for violating the rules within its competence. Acting on the reports submitted by Transparency Serbia, the Agency has made a number of controversial  decisions and has not yet decided on some of the reports.

The Agency concluded that the Center for Social Stability, whose videos with the invitation to the SNS rally in Niš were broadcast as advertisements on numerous TV stations, is not related to the SNS, nor that a free service was done to the political party in this way. Although these are advertisements whose value could exceed one million euros, the Agency, which is the body responsible for controlling the financing of parties, based its conclusion solely on the statement of the party's proxy, without any checks with the TV stations that broadcast the ad, REM or CDS.

The Agency also dismissed the charges against the president of the municipality of Kosjerić and the deputy mayor of Zaječar. In both cases, the applications were rejected without reference to what their subject was. In the case from Kosjerić, the reason for the report was a video broadcast in which the president of the municipality talks about pre-election asphalting to the president of his party. In the case from Zaječar, the Agency concluded that the deputy mayor did not violate the obligation of a public official to act in accordance with the regulations, despite the fact that the application cited regulations from which it can be seen that visiting construction sites on projects financed from the state budget does not fall within the scope of work of local officials.

All this shows that the issue of using public resources in the election campaign is the first issue that must be resolved before the next elections, through the introduction of stricter restrictions. It also showed how significant was another of the unfulfilled recommendations of the ODIHR – to introduce rules on the conduct of paid campaigning by "third parties", i.e. entities that do not participate directly in the elections. However, no new rules will be worth much if we do not have control institutions that will enforce these rules.