Electoral reform

Electoral reform in Serbia has become a process that generates legislative activity without delivering meaningful change. The amendments to electoral laws adopted in 2026 addressed only a fraction of outstanding ODIHR recommendations - leaving 20 unfulfilled, including 6 priority recommendations. Among those still unaddressed: the separation of state and party resources in campaigns, and an end to pressure on voters - particularly public sector employees and welfare recipients. Meanwhile, new problems have emerged that existing recommendations do not yet cover, including organized violence against journalists and election observers, and the use of para-observer missions to legitimize flawed processes. This section tracks what has been proposed, what has been adopted, and what continues to be ignored.

CRTA's assessment of ODIHR recommendations fullfilment

October

The Constitutional Court rejected the proposal to declare unconstitutional and unlawful the REC decision of 24 August introducing curtained voting booths as an alternative to cardboard screens. Court President Vladan Petrov said the booths provide a higher level of secrecy of the vote, but that the Court did not examine how the rules will be applied or possible abuses during voting. The reasoning has not been published. Students, opposition parties and two REC members had argued that the booths make it easier to photograph ballots.

September

CRTA's two members of the Commission auditing the Unified Voter Register assessed that a comprehensive, system-level audit establishing the register's accuracy, completeness and integrity is not feasible under current conditions. Of roughly seven months available for substantive work, about four were consumed in securing access to basic voter-level data and its history of changes. Access to the source registers allows only individual checks by a known personal number, and the Commission was informally told an IT audit of the register software would not be permitted. The first report due on 28 October will therefore be a diagnostic assessment and a set of partial audits.

The National Assembly amended the Law on Prevention of Corruption (Official Gazette No. 80/2026), in force from 1 September 2026. The amendments introduce Agency monitoring of officials throughout the campaign, with mandatory monitoring of the President and members of the Government, differentiated sanctions, and clearer procedural rules. CRTA sees progress on some points long raised by ODIHR, but warns that the definition of a public official and the asset-declaration rules remain weak, and that the law was adopted under urgent procedure, without a public debate.

ODIHR

4 out of 56

Priority recommendations have been fully implemented

Reform agenda

None

Of the composite steps related to election reform have been fully implemented

Update

Serbia adopts anti-corruption law amendments: some concerns addressed, others remain

The National Assembly amended the Law on Prevention of Corruption (in force 1 September 2026), strengthening campaign monitoring and sanctions, while key concerns on officials' definition and asset declarations remain.

Update

CRTA’s assessment of ODIHR recommendations from 2023 and 2024

Between the 2023 parliamentary elections and the 2024 local elections, ODIHR issued 54 recommendations for Serbia's electoral process. Meanwhile, Serbian authorities have been actively trying to convince the domestic — and above all the international — public that they are implementing electoral reforms. CRTA verifies which recommendations have been implemented, which only formally, and which have...

Update

Draft Law Amending the Law on Prevention of Corruption

The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption has proposed amendments aimed at a clearer separation between the exercise of public office and election campaigning, and at preventing the misuse of public office and public resources. The draft implements four ODIHR and several GRECO recommendations and may represent a step forward, but several provisions leave room for discretionary interpretation and...

Update

ODIHR’s needs assessment confirms what CRTA has documented, and what citizens already sense

Read alongside CRTA's own monitoring and the June 2026 public opinion survey, the ODIHR needs assessment describes problems CRTA has tracked for months - on electoral laws, the media regulator and the voter register - and that citizens themselves increasingly register as distrust in institutions and doubt about fair elections.

Update

ODIHR recommends its largest recent observation mission for Serbia’s early elections

After a needs assessment in July, ODIHR concluded that Serbia's anticipated 2026 early elections warrant a full Election Observation Mission with 32 long-term and 300 short-term observers - more than it deployed in either 2022 or 2023, and a measure of how serious the concerns about the pre-election environment have become.

Update

What the amendments to the Law on Financing of Political Activities introduce

Proposed by MP Petrašinović, the amendments went through three drafts and a withdrawal before returning to parliament under an expedited procedure. They incorporate more of ODIHR's recommendations than past practice, but several solutions stay imprecise and the process bypassed genuine public debate.

Update

Draft amendments to the Law on Financing of Political Activities: progress on ODIHR’s recommen...

The amendments to the Law on Financing of Political Activities were submitted to parliament by MP Petrašinović and revised after ODIHR's comments. CRTA's analysis compares both drafts article by article: the text incorporates more of ODIHR's recommendations than past practice, but several solutions remain imprecise and the process has not run through a genuine, consensus-based public consultation....

Update

What is the UVR Commission?

A body established by Parliament to audit the Unified Voter Register and help rebuild public trust in it. It is meant to bring together nominees of the ruling majority, the opposition, and civil society, and to take decisions only with cross-group agreement.

Update

Electoral law amendments adopted without consensus or genuine public debate

On 20 May 2026, the National Assembly of Serbia adopted amendments to four electoral laws: the Law on the Election of Members of Parliament, the Law on Local Elections, the Law on the Constitutional Court, and the Law on the Election of the President of the Republic. Two additional laws envisaged by the Reform Agenda - the Law on the Prevention of Corruption and the Law on the Financing of Politic...

CRTA.Plus is part of CRTA’s work to document developments related to democracy, the rule of law, and accountability in Serbia.

Key Issues

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Electoral reform

The Constitutional Court rejects the challenge to the REC decision introducing voting booths at polling stations.

CRTA’s members of the UVR Commission assess that a meaningful audit of the voter register cannot be completed under current conditions.

The National Assembly adopts amendments to the Law on Prevention of Corruption regulating officials’ campaigning and Agency oversight.

Serbia adopts anti-corruption law amendments: some concerns addressed, others remain

CRTA’s assessment of ODIHR recommendations from 2023 and 2024

Draft Law Amending the Law on Prevention of Corruption

ODIHR’s needs assessment confirms what CRTA has documented, and what citizens already sense

ODIHR recommends its largest recent observation mission for Serbia’s early elections

What the amendments to the Law on Financing of Political Activities introduce

Draft amendments to the Law on Financing of Political Activities: progress on ODIHR’s recommen...

What is the UVR Commission?

Electoral law amendments adopted without consensus or genuine public debate