EN

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
June

CRTA mapped the full methodology of the Commission for the Audit of the Unified Voter Register against the data access actually provided to date. The assessment finds that 95% of planned checks - everything that requires analysing the register as a whole, cross-referencing source records, or examining system security - cannot be carried out. Full access, required under Article 22j of the UVR Law, has not been provided, while the Commission's reporting deadlines continue to run.
Read more
May

CRTA published a preliminary assessment of the implementation of ODIHR recommendations issued following the 2023 parliamentary and local elections. The update covers 25 recommendations and finds that the authorities have addressed only a narrow set of technical issues, while structural problems - including pressure on voters, capture of media regulators, and abuse of public office in campaigns - remain unaddressed. The assessment notes that legislative amendments adopted in May 2026 are largely cosmetic and were not the product of an inclusive consultative process.
Read more

CRTA launched Mandator, an interactive tool that shows how votes translate into seats in Serbia's National Assembly. The tool applies the D'Hondt method and official rules of Serbia's electoral system - including thresholds and minority coefficients that have changed since 2008 - to let users build their own scenarios, adjust coalitions, and load historical results from every parliamentary election. Mandator was built to demystify electoral arithmetic, showing in practice why vote shares do not translate directly into seat shares, and what happens to votes cast for parties that fall below the threshold. Scenarios can be downloaded as Excel files.
Try Mandator
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
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.
Read more
Update
Snap Election Deadline Calculator
Enter a date and find out what is still legally possible - and what has already run out of time.
Read more
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...
Read more
Update
How votes become seats in Serbian Parliament
How votes become seats - and what would happen if things were different? Build scenarios, test coalitions, predict outcomes, learn how the system works.
Read more
Brief
Opposition SSP proposes new framework for diaspora voting and residence records
The proposals would extend voting rights in national elections to citizens with actual residence abr...
Read more
Update
Analysis of the proposed electoral laws amendments in April 2026
The proposed electoral law amendments do not address the fundamental problems of Serbia's electoral process and cannot make a meaningful contribution to improving electoral conditions. They will neither reduce the unequal footing of electoral contestants nor prevent the manipulations documented in previous election cycles.
Read more
Brief
Preliminary Analysis of the Proposed Amendments to the Electoral Laws
The Reform Agenda envisages amendments to five key laws in the field of electoral legislation by the...
Read more
Update
Assessment of 2023 ODIHR recommendations fulfilment
In connection with the 2023 elections, the ODIHR mission issued a total of 25 recommendations aimed at ensuring conditions for free and fair elections and improving the electoral process. According to the 2025 assessments, none of these recommendations has been assessed as fulfilled. Of the total number of recommendations, 6 are partially fulfilled, 13 are unfulfilled (more than 50%), and 6 have n...
Read more
Brief
Video surveillance at polling stations undermines the secrecy of the vote and the integrity of elect...
The proposed amendments to the Law on the Election of Members of Parliament introduce video surveill...
Read more
CRTA+ is part of CRTA’s work to document developments related to democracy, the rule of law, and accountability in Serbia.
Crta @ 2025. All rights reserved.
Key Issues
Slučajevi Elections & Voting Integrity Civil Society Resilience Protests in Serbia Institutions & Oversight Media & Information Space
Other pages
Slučajevi Public Sentiment Serbia in Reports Reform Agenda Updates