Irregularities in the 2022 elections

Category: Elections, media and institutions

Period: 15 Feb 2022 – 1 Aug 2022

Outcome: No one investigated (as of 19 Aug 2022)

In the presidential, parliamentary and Belgrade elections on 3 April 2022, Aleksandar Vučić was re-elected president in the first round, and the list led by the SNS won 120 seats in parliament. The OSCE/ODIHR mission found that pressure on public-sector employees, misuse of administrative resources and media coverage favouring the authorities had created an uneven playing field. On election day the secrecy of the vote was violated, yet by 12 April the prosecution had received only seven complaints and no one had been charged.

Results and ODIHR's assessment

In the presidential, snap parliamentary and Belgrade City Assembly elections of 3 April 2022, Aleksandar Vučić was re-elected president in the first round, and the list built around the SNS won 120 seats in parliament and 48 of the 110 seats in the Belgrade assembly.

The OSCE/ODIHR mission concluded that a series of shortcomings created an uneven playing field in favour of the authorities: pressure on public sector employees, misuse of administrative resources, the opening of infrastructure projects during the campaign, and media that favoured the president and the ruling coalition.

Election day

On election day, ODIHR recorded breaches of the secrecy of the vote and family voting at one fifth of the polling stations it observed, while CRTA recorded repeated serious violations of the rules at 5 percent of polling stations and breaches of ballot secrecy at 14 percent. CRTA filed seven complaints with the police over vote buying and the “Bulgarian train”; the opposition reported attacks on its election monitors in Zemun and Novi Sad.

Objections, appeals and complaints

Electoral commissions rejected most of the roughly 420 objections, and the Administrative Court, which ruled in closed sessions, rejected all 57 opposition appeals it had decided on by 20 April. The vote was rerun at 67 polling stations, three times in Veliki Trnovac, so parliament was not constituted until 1 August.

By 12 April the prosecution had received only seven complaints, and no one has been charged. Questions about the voter roll and the relocation of voters are covered in the affair “Irregularities in the 2023 elections”.

Participants

Aleksandar Vučić: According to ODIHR, as a candidate he announced and opened public infrastructure projects during the campaign, which contributed to an uneven playing field (responsible)
Serbian Progressive Party: According to CRTA, all recorded pressure on voters was linked to the ruling parties; ODIHR received reports of pressure to support the coalition (responsible)
Republic Electoral Commission: It assigned voters from Kosovo to polling stations far from where they live, which, according to CRTA, made voting difficult, if not impossible (responsible)
Vladimir Dimitrijević: The Republic Electoral Commission, which he heads, said it had no information about irregularities in Novi Sad, where opposition observers were attacked on election day (commented on the case)
Belgrade City Electoral Commission: It rejected as unfounded 85 opposition complaints about the vote and a complaint about the conduct of the commission's chair (responsible)
Government of the Republic of Serbia: According to CRTA, it misused the advantages of incumbency through one-off cash handouts before the elections, which had clientelist features (responsible)
Administrative Court: It decided on the appeals in closed sessions, and by 20 April had rejected all 57 appeals it ruled on (investigation and courts)
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia: It received seven complaints from CRTA over vote buying and the „Bulgarian train“ (investigation and courts)
OSCE/ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights): It found an uneven playing field that favoured the incumbents, pressure on the public sector and compromised secrecy of the vote (oversight and the public)
CRTA (Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability): It recorded serious violations at 5 percent of polling stations and filed seven complaints with the police over vote buying and the “Bulgarian train” (oversight and the public)
New Belgrade City Municipality: It said it had not certified the statements for the "Russian Minority Alliance", even though they bore its stamp, and announced it would file a complaint (oversight and the public)
Don't Let Belgrade D(r)own: It said a monitor was attacked in Zemun after filming SNS activists with a parallel list (oversight and the public)

Irregularities in the 2022 elections

Results and ODIHR's assessment

Election day

Objections, appeals and complaints

Participants

Sources