Parliamentary elections 2026

Serbia votes on 25 October, in elections called on 9 September. CRTA’s Election Observation Mission has been observing the process since March, and its first interim report finds that the first half of the campaign narrowed the scope for voting, for campaigning on equal terms and for observing the elections - without precedent among the processes CRTA has followed.
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November

On 4 November 2026, the REM Council imposed its first serious sanctions since November 2024. It banned TV Prva's news programme for one day and its morning programme for five days, and unanimously banned Informer's "Prve info" for seven days, all over content aired during the election campaign. The Council also opened nine new proceedings against five broadcasters and will decide on further measures on 10 November. Supporters of Informer, including acting President Ana Brnabić, gathered outside REM during the session.

On 1 November, voting was repeated at 53 polling stations in 24 municipalities, with 44.9 percent turnout. The repeat vote changed the seat allocation: the list "Usame Zukorlić (SPP) - Movement for Unification" won one seat, decided by 12 votes. CRTA observers, present at all 53 polling stations, recorded isolated cases of vote buying, including allegations in favour of the same list in Aleksinac, as well as parallel records of voters and third parties at polling stations.
October

The International Election Observation Mission led by ODIHR published its preliminary findings on the 25 October early parliamentary elections. The mission noted high turnout and vigorous competition, but found that the equality of campaign opportunities was seriously compromised by the misuse of state resources, pressure on voters and public-sector employees, and pronounced media bias in favour of "United Serbia". It also concluded that priority ODIHR recommendations remain unaddressed, that the authorities did not explain voter register discrepancies, and that election disputes were not consistently resolved through effective legal remedies.

What is happening

CRTA's Election Observation Mission has been observing this process since March 2026, before the elections were called. Its first interim report, published on 11 October, covers the first half of the official campaign; the findings below are drawn from it. The mission's observation covers the use of public office and public resources, media coverage, the voter register, and the conduct of the institutions administering the vote.

Who

Nineteen electoral lists were proclaimed by the deadline of 4 October, and eighteen stand on the ballot after one was withdrawn. The Republic Electoral Commission appoints the polling boards, accredits observers, decides on complaints and declares the results. Media coverage of the campaign falls under the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media, and the accuracy of the voter register under a commission established by the 2025 law. The section below sets out the contestants and what the mission has recorded about each of these bodies.

Interactive tool

Who has held power

Fourteen prime ministers since 1991, from four parties. One of those parties has held the office without a break since April 2014. The timeline sets out every significant party since the first multi-party election: when it was founded, what it split from, and whether it governed or opposed.

Open the timeline →

Macut

Prime Minister, since April 2025

SNS
Move through the years 2026

Heads of government only. The full timeline also covers presidents and all thirty-two parties, with their splits and mergers.

How to vote

The register is closed and the polling stations are set. This is where and when the vote happens, including for the voters who are not voting in Serbia.

When

Calling the elections on 9 September set the statutory deadlines running. Fifty-four of them fall on a date that can be calculated in advance. The remainder run from an event - 48 hours from the submission of a list, three days from a decision taking effect - and can be determined only once that event occurs. The deadlines govern candidacy, entry in the voter register, campaign silence and the submission of complaints. The key dates are set out below; the election calendar calculates all of them.

Election calendar

The dates that decide what can still be done

What is still ahead, from the start of campaign silence to the outer limit of the presidential election. The deadlines that have already passed, and the ones that run from an event rather than from a date, are all in the calculator.

23 October
Campaign silence begins at midnight and lasts until the polls close at 20:00 on election day.
25 October
Election day. Polls are open from 07:00 to 20:00.
28 October
Legal deadline for the audit of the voter register - three days after the vote.
8 November
Elections for 23 national minority councils, two weeks after the parliamentary vote. Twenty-one minorities vote directly; the Gorani and Russian communities elect through an electoral assembly. Who votes and how →
27 December
The last day on which the presidential election can be held. The window runs from 1 November, and the day of voting has to fall on a non-working day. The possible dates →

How

Members of the National Assembly are elected under a proportional system, in a single nationwide constituency, from closed lists. Two hundred and fifty seats are distributed by the d'Hondt method among the lists that win at least three per cent of valid votes; lists of national minorities are exempt from the threshold and enter under a natural quota. The section below sets out the procedure in the order in which it takes place: entry in the voter register, voting and counting on election day, and the allocation of seats after the polls close.

Before the vote

Getting onto the register

You vote where you are entered in the Unified Voter Register. Citizens abroad had to apply to vote at a diplomatic or consular mission by 3 October; for everyone else the register closed on 9 October, when the total number of voters was determined. The register has never been audited, and the commission set up to do it has a legal deadline that falls three days after the vote.

The voter register →

On election day

Who counts the ballots

Each polling station is run by a polling board made up of appointed and party-nominated members, which counts the ballots on the spot as soon as the polls close and records the result in a protocol. The obligation for board members to be trained and certified applies only from January 2028, so it will not apply to these elections.

Republic Electoral Commission →

After the polls close

How votes become seats

The Republic Electoral Commission publishes the results within 96 hours of the polls closing. Seats are then distributed among the lists that pass the three per cent threshold, in proportion to the votes they win, by the d’Hondt method. Mandator runs on the eighteen lists on this ballot: enter a turnout and a result, and it shows where the 250 seats fall.

Mandator - the seat calculator →

Interactive tool

How votes become seats

Two hundred and fifty seats are divided among the lists that clear the three per cent threshold, by the d’Hondt method. Move the slider to see what a share of the vote is worth. Mandator does the same for the eighteen lists on this ballot.

Open Mandator →

125

List A

125

List B

Share of the vote for list A 50,0%

A simplified illustration with two lists and no national minority lists. A list below the three per cent threshold wins no seats.

Update
REM bans TV Prva and Informer programmes in first serious sanctions since 2024
Ruling on content aired during the election campaign, the REM Council banned three programmes for one to seven days and set two further decision dates for November.
Update
Repeat vote at 53 polling stations brings one seat to Zukorlić’s list
Voting was repeated on 1 November with 44.9 percent turnout. CRTA observers recorded isolated cases of vote buying, parallel voter records and third parties at polling stations.
Update
ODIHR preliminary findings: high turnout, but seriously compromised equality of campaign opportuniti...
International observers assess the 25 October elections as competitive and well administered, but marked by misuse of state resources, pressure on voters, biased media coverage and weak institutional oversight.
Update
Record turnout gives Student List an absolute majority, CRTA projection shows
With turnout of 69 percent, the highest this century, the Student List won a projected 138 seats, while CRTA observers recorded pressure on polling boards at every second polling station.
Update
How CRTA will observe Election Day on 25 October
CRTA will observe Serbia's 25 October elections at 500 sampled polling stations and use parallel vote tabulation (PVT) to check the official result.
Update
Voter register audit Commission distances itself from the Government IT Office’s findings
A week after the Government's IT Office reported a near-complete match between the voter register and source records, the audit Commission said those findings were not its own.
Update
The week on television: 5-11 October 2026
The ruling majority took 77% of political airtime, up from 66% a week earlier, and Aleksandar Vučić alone more than the entire opposition. Two weeks before election day.
Update
Live from election day: CRTA’s turnout estimates, observers’ findings and results projec...
Throughout 25 October, CRTA's Election Observation Mission reports from polling stations, with turnout estimates during the day and a preliminary results projection after polling stations close.
Update
Constitutional Court upholds REC decision on voting booths ahead of 25 October
The Court rejected the challenge eleven days before the election, without publishing its reasoning and without examining how the booths will work on election day.
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