Series:Izbori u Srbiji

MEDIA IN SERBIA FREE AND LIBERATED

MEDIJI U SRBIJI SLOBODNI I OSLOBOĐENI

Author(s): Mirjana Todorović,Stjepan Gredelj / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: Serbia; Elections

For the last thirteen years, media freedom has been one of the key demands that the opposition at the time (and the current government) constantly put before Slobodan Milosevic. Implied in these demands was the freedom of the so-called state media, which were under the direct patronage of the (party) state. Alongside them, another group of media, 'independent' of that patronage, persisted and tried to provide citizens with objective information. However, these media were exposed to multiple obstacles, starting with financial inequality (state monopoly on the availability and prices of roto-paper, different for the 'advantaged' and 'disadvantaged', limiting access to distribution networks, limiting circulation, fiscal burdens with strict price regulation and tax on remittances for 'independents' and fiscal relief for the 'eligible'), through the voluntarist extralegal monopoly over natural resources (radio and TV frequency distribution), all the way to open paralegal repression, through the infamous Law on Public Information, as a transparent form of stifling 'unsolicited' media.

Elections in FRY 1990-1998.

IZBORI U SRJ OD 1990. DO 1998.

Author(s): Vladimir Goati / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: Yugoslavia; Elections

In this study, we will cover the chronologically short, but politically extremely significant and stormy period between 1990, when the first free elections were held in Serbia and Montenegro, and the end of 1998. The dramatic nature of that period is not only, or even primarily, the frequent parliamentary elections (for the federal and republican parliaments) and presidential elections, but also two interconnected events that overshadowed all others with their fateful importance. The first is the outbreak of civil war in June 1991 in Slovenia, which later, like a drop of oil on water, spread to Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and led to the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRJ). During the civil war, the four former republics of the SFRY (Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) declared their independence and, in late 1991 and early 1992, received recognition from the international community as independent states, while the remaining two republics, Serbia and Montenegro, declared the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) on April 27, 1992. In fact, during the observed period (1990-1998), there was a change in the state framework; at the beginning of the period, Serbia and Montenegro were two of the six republics of the SFRY, and at the end of the period, the mentioned two republics were part of the FRY.

Responsibility of Political Parties

Odgovornost političkih stranaka

Author(s): Njegoš Manojlović / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: Serbia; Elections

The main goals of the project, which CeSID realized in cooperation withThe Westminster Foundation for Democracy aims to familiarize citizens with the work of municipal assemblies (SO) and the influence of inter-party relations on their work with the aim of increasing control over the work of the aforementioned entities, influencing the increase in the responsibility of political parties and increasing their decentralization. The brochure is the result of the double nature of the project. It is, first of all, about the analytical character, which shows the relationship between citizens and parties in the period after the local elections, the relationship between parties at the local level and indicates the interweaving of the influence of local and party structures at the state level. The educational character makes it possible to present to the public of local communities whether there is a difference in the actions and performance of parties before and after the elections, as well as the work of the municipal representative body and the influence of inter-party relations in it.

POTESTAS a popolo - Government up close

POTESTAS a popolo - vlast izbliza

Author(s): Milena Veličković / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: Serbia; Elections

The current state of the society we belong to can be understood as a state of new beginning, as a new chance offered to all of us and to each individual in particular. How our society will develop and in what direction it will move depends on all of us. The realization of civilizational achievements and modern standards requires the comprehensive inclusion of citizens in social processes.

Political parties and elections in a democratic order

Političke partije i izbori u demokratskom poretku

Author(s): Vladimir Goati / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: Serbia; Elactions

The Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID) is launching an edition of popular publications intended for the widest circle of readers - the citizens of Serbia, on whom CeSID has relied in its activities in the past period. Through selfless engagement, as election observers, citizens contributed to CeSID carrying out all activities related to election observation. The participation of citizens in observing the elections also showed their interest in directly participating in the process of establishing and building democratic institutions in Serbia and acquiring the knowledge needed for this type of activity. By launching this edition, CeSID continues its mission of training citizens and thus meets their growing needs for objective and as complete information on all important issues related to the process of democratization of society.

Dictionary of basic concepts and terms about elections

Rečnik osnovnih pojmova i termina o izborima

Author(s): Mirjana Pajvančić / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: Serbia; Elections

During the election, citizens - voters and other election participants encounter many specific expressions, the meaning of which is not always sufficiently known. Many of these terms originate from comparative electoral practice. Only recently, with the introduction of multi-party elections, and in our increasingly rich literature on elections, do we encounter these terms. Certain expressions are difficult to translate into our language, and are often used in election terminology. The colloquial use of some, otherwise widespread, terms is not precise (e.g. electoral right - the right to vote), so it is necessary to explain their meaning and content.

Women's Suffrage

Pravo glasa žena

Author(s): Slobodanka Markov / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: right to vote; political right; women; women's movements; political freedom

The right to vote is a political right that was of particular importance in the struggle of women and women's movements to gain political freedom during the 19th and in the first half of the 20th century, and it was understood as a path to economic and social equality. Women's struggle for universal and equal suffrage was arduous, long-lasting, filled with painful debates in parliaments and with male political elites, who, more or less openly, denied women the right to vote and delayed granting it to them. That long struggle was crowned with significant results only in the first half of the 20th century. The finale, however, was after the Second World War, when women in almost all countries of the world got that right. Today, women's right to vote in the sense of formal law is understood as a civilizational asset and a sign of democratic societies, as one of the specific characteristics of modern societies that separates them from earlier historical periods.

Right to observe

Pravo na posmatranje

Author(s): Soraja Soković / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: Elections; Serbia

Elections are the way through which citizens deny or give their trust to a certain government. Given that the election process does not only include the expression of the will of the voters, but also a whole series of procedural rules through which this will is expressed and which must be respected as such, in the last few decades the need to observe the election as one of the ways to protect the electoral right of the voters has arisen.

Parallel vote counting experience

Iskustvo paralelnog prebrojavanja glasova

Author(s): Zoran Lučić ,Nebojša Vasiljević,Dragiša Bjeloglav / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: Serbia; Elections

It sometimes happens in some society that political competitors are so opposed to each other that there is no trust between them and the gap of intolerance cannot be bridged even because of the fear that during or after the elections in which the outcome of their political struggle is decided, an open physical conflict may occur. In such circumstances, it is important to find a group of interested observers, organized around the election monitoring project, which, regardless of the political convictions of individuals from that organization, wants to determine the true results of the election and announce them to the public in order to prevent conflicts and force the defeated party to accept defeat peacefully. If in such a society a political competitor in power is ready to change the electoral will of the citizens by fraud and to apply coercion or even force in order not to achieve his goal, then the election monitoring organization, although it may seem biased to some, has an even more important role because, in conditions of danger, by monitoring the electoral process in order to determine the real truth, it makes electoral fraud difficult or, moreover, prevents it.

Electoral contests in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 2000 to 2003.

Izborna nadmetanja u Saveznoj Republici Jugoslaviji od 2000. do 2003.

Author(s): Vladimir Goati / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: Elections; FRY; Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; Serbia

The elections on the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) held in 2001 and 2002 - which we deal with in this study - were, by coincidence, the last election contests in the short and stormy history of the FRY. Because we covered the election contests in the previous period in the book Elections in the FRY from 1990 to 1998, Addendum: Elections 2000 (Goati, Belgrade, CeSID, 2001), with this study we will "circle" all the elections (at the federal and republican level) that took place in the ten years of the FRY's existence, because with the establishment of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro on February 4 In 2003, the "third Yugoslavia", after a decade of existence, irretrievably went into the past. This is the reason why we will first recapitulate, quite summarily, the already "completed history" of the FRY, and then we will deal with the elections held in its two republics between 2000 and February 4, 2003, when the FRY was transformed into the state union of Serbia and Montenegro. At the end of the book is a Documentary appendix containing the results of all parliamentary and presidential elections held in the period under consideration.

Presidential elections 2008: circumstances and result

Predsednički izbori 2008 : okolnosti i rezultat

Author(s): / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: Elections; Serbia

ABOUT ELECTIONS 12 - Report on the repeat presidential elections in the Republic of Serbia (November 16, 2003)

OKO IZBORA 12 - Izveštaj sa ponovljenih predsedničkih izbora u Republici Srbiji (16. novembar 2003)

Author(s): Ivan Nikolić / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: Serbia; Elections

In this report, About Election 12, we present data and observations about the repeated presidential elections, held on November 16, 2003. The report consists of contributions from CeSID's volunteers, associates and experts, grouped into several thematic units.

ABOUT ELECTIONS 13 - Report on the early parliamentary elections in the Republic of Serbia (December 28, 2003)

OKO IZBORA 13 - Izveštaj sa vanrednih parlamentarnih izbora u Republici Srbiji (28. decembar 2003. godine)

Author(s): Ivan Nikolić / Language(s): Serbian

ELECTION DISPUTES IN SERBIA

ELECTION DISPUTES IN SERBIA

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): English

Keywords: Serbia; Elections

The survey Electoral Justice: Here, Now, Tomorrow – the Case of Serbia, published by CeSID in May 2021, set out the priority areas for intervention to improve and enhance all aspects of the Serbian framework for resolving election disputes, in view especially of the need for thorough reform of Serbia’s electoral law and the regulation and rules of procedures on election disputes, and (2) the growing importance of the resolution of election disputes and their impact on confidence – or lack thereof – on the overall electoral system. One of the findings of this study was that stakeholders in elections, especially ‘soft’ political organizations, have very limited capacity and knowledge about how to address or file election disputes, so their capacity needs to be enhanced to empower them. The same was true of the general public: no more than 10 percent of voters knew how to file a complaint, and as few as 24 percent were aware they were entitled to file election-related complaints.

ELECTION DISPUTES IN SERBIA

IZBORNI SPOROVI U SRBIJI

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: Serbia; Elections

The survey Electoral Justice: Here, Now, Tomorrow – the Case of Serbia, published by CeSID in May 2021, set out the priority areas for intervention to improve and enhance all aspects of the Serbian framework for resolving election disputes, in view especially of the need for thorough reform of Serbia’s electoral law and the regulation and rules of procedures on election disputes, and (2) the growing importance of the resolution of election disputes and their impact on confidence – or lack thereof – on the overall electoral system. One of the findings of this study was that stakeholders in elections, especially ‘soft’ political organizations, have very limited capacity and knowledge about how to address or file election disputes, so their capacity needs to be enhanced to empower them. The same was true of the general public: no more than 10 percent of voters knew how to file a complaint, and as few as 24 percent were aware they were entitled to file election-related complaints.

ELECTORAL JUSTICE: HERE, NOW, TOMORROW [THE CASE OF SERBIA]

ELECTORAL JUSTICE: HERE, NOW, TOMORROW [THE CASE OF SERBIA]

Author(s): / Language(s): English

Keywords: Serbia; Elections; electoral process ; ODIHR; Transparency

Resolving electoral disputes is one of the most sensitive aspects of the electoral process and has a decisive bearing on the integrity of elections. Nevertheless, this issue has rarely commanded the attention of the broadest Serbian public due to both its opacity as a narrowly technical field and the (perhaps excessive) emphasis on other topics, primarily the role of the media and events on Election Day. Electoral justice has thus often been confined to a limited circle of lawyers or those with close knowledge of the electoral process. The topic has gained in importance given the context in which Serbian elections take place: firstly, Serbia is yet to develop and build stable electoral procedures and institutions (the country has seen a basically normalized electoral process only in the past 20 years, even though it displays traits of a deepseated traditional political culture nurtured in socialist Yugoslavia during the time of political monism), and, secondly, electoral law remains deeply influenced by political parties and organisations (with the electoral administration particularly strongly affected), which makes it difficult to promote public trust in elections and the electoral process as a whole.

ELECTORAL JUSTICE: HERE, NOW, TOMORROW [THE CASE OF SERBIA]

IZBORNA PRAVDA: ovde, sada, sutra [SLUČAJ SRBIJA]

Author(s): / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: Serbia; Elections; electoral process ; ODIHR; Transparency

Resolving electoral disputes is one of the most sensitive aspects of the electoral process and has a decisive bearing on the integrity of elections. Nevertheless, this issue has rarely commanded the attention of the broadest Serbian public due to both its opacity as a narrowly technical field and the (perhaps excessive) emphasis on other topics, primarily the role of the media and events on Election Day. Electoral justice has thus often been confined to a limited circle of lawyers or those with close knowledge of the electoral process. The topic has gained in importance given the context in which Serbian elections take place: firstly, Serbia is yet to develop and build stable electoral procedures and institutions (the country has seen a basically normalized electoral process only in the past 20 years, even though it displays traits of a deepseated traditional political culture nurtured in socialist Yugoslavia during the time of political monism), and, secondly, electoral law remains deeply influenced by political parties and organisations (with the electoral administration particularly strongly affected), which makes it difficult to promote public trust in elections and the electoral process as a whole.

What is important to know to protect your voting rights

Šta je važno da znate kako biste zaštitili svoja izborna prava

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: electoral right; election process

The electoral right is general, equal and immediate. It is done by secret ballot. No one can know who you voted for, nor has the right to ask you about it or ask you to vote publicly. These principles are guaranteed by the laws and protected by the competent authorities that implement and control the election process.

Dialogue on the improvement of electoral conditions

Dijalog o unapređenju izbornih uslova

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): Serbian

Keywords: electoral conditions; Serbia; Elections

During the summer of 2019, the Foundation for Open Society and the Faculty of Political Sciences launched a dialogue between the government and the opposition in the form of a series of round tables on electoral conditions in preparation for the elections that Serbia welcomes in the atmosphere of the announced boycott of the opposition, with a lack of communication between the most important political actors and deep polarization in society.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ELECTORAL SYSTEM

PREDLOG ZA PROMENU IZBORNOG SISTEMA

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): English,Serbian

Keywords: electoral system; Serbia; Elections

For many years, the idea of ​​changing the electoral system has been current in Serbia. The general assessment is that the current electoral system is, at the very least, inadequate for the political system of Serbia and that its change is necessary. The key features of the current proportional electoral system are that the process of voting and distribution of mandates (250 in total) is carried out in one electoral unit, that candidates are chosen from a closed electoral list and that a 5% census appears as an additional element.The idea of reforming the electoral system in Serbiahas been debated for years. The general opinion isthat the current electoral system is inadequate, tosay the least, for the Serbian political landscape,and that it needs to be altered. The key featuresof the existing proportional electoral system are:voting and distribution of seats in parliament (250in total) take place in a single constituency; candidatesare chosen from a closed electoral list; andelectoral lists are subject to a five-percent threshold.