Category: Elections, media and institutions
Period: from 2 Jun 2024
Outcome: No one investigated (as of 4 Jun 2024)
On the day of the local elections, 2 June 2024, opposition activists and citizens reported to the police that a call centre run by the SNS was operating in a hall at the Novi Sad Fair. The party confirmed it had rented the space. The police reportedly arrived only after about an hour, and officers in the first vehicles from the Novi Sad Police Department did not get out, saying the local patrol was responsible. The hall is in the same building where votes were to be counted after polling closed. The Interior Ministry said it responds to every report filed.
Opposition activists and citizens called the police after seeing, through the glass doors of a hall at the Novi Sad Fair, hundreds of mostly young people making phone calls. The hall is in the same building where votes were to be counted after polling closed.
During the day, the police drew up an official note recording citizens' reports that a large call centre was probably operating there.
The police reportedly arrived only about an hour after the first call. Officers in the first vehicles from the Novi Sad Police Department did not get out, saying the local patrol was responsible.
They formed a cordon only when activists tried to enter the hall, and in the meantime people inside the hall left through another exit carrying boxes.
The SNS said it had rented part of the Fair for a call centre and had shut it down after the opposition arrived. Ana Brnabić wrote that the party has a call centre and that she sees no problem with it.
The Interior Ministry said it responds to every report filed, and the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad said it would act urgently with the police against violence and look into the election-related complaints filed.