Bundestag MPs: Election manipulation in Serbia must have consequences

The European Committee of the Bundestag discussed Wednesday the Serbian December 17, 2023 parliamentary and local elections, to which international election observers had been invited. The conclusion from the discussion was that the developments in Serbia are going in the wrong direction, and that there should be a repeat of the Belgrade elections.

“We expect a country that has been negotiating accession to the European Union since 2014 to hold free and fair elections. Instead, the recent elections in Serbia appear to have been systematically manipulated by the state. It is high time that the EU Commission also names the democratic deficits in Serbia and rethinks how it deals with the political leaders there. We expect an independent investigation and clarification of all allegations,” said a press release signed by European policy spokespersons of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD, Alliance 90/The Greens and the FDP parliamentary groups.

They noted that election observers reported intimidated civil servants, vote buying, biased media reporting in favor of the ruling party and targeted misuse of public funds and offices for election campaign purposes.

Regarding the Belgrade local elections, the German MPs said the opposition had a realistic chance of winning.

“Apparently for this reason, citizens from other parts of the country and even from neighboring countries were bused into the capital to cast their votes. In order to give the appearance of legitimacy, some bizarre residences were listed, including uninhabitable buildings and abandoned houses. We doubt that the result corresponds to the actual will of the voters. In this case, the elections to the Belgrade city parliament would have to be repeated,” said the press release.

It added that the state authorities in Serbia do not seem to be interested in clarifying these and other observations.

“The publication of the electoral roll is still a long time coming. But where voter rolls are systematically manipulated and information is refused, democracy and the rule of law are finally on the decline,” said the members of the European Committee of the Bundestag.