SR

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
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.
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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.
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August

The draft law amending the Law on Prevention of Corruption is on the agenda of the National Assembly session that opened on 24 August 2026. The amendments aim to separate the exercise of public office from election campaigning: they refine and widen the definition of a public official, regulate officials' campaigning, and introduce Agency monitoring during the campaign, including mandatory monitoring of the President and Government members. CRTA warns that, despite these formal improvements, the key problems remain unresolved - the definition of a public official is not targeted enough at those who actually wield power, the asset-declaration rules are a step backward, and several provisions leave wide room for discretionary interpretation, so their real effect will depend on the Agency's so-far weak practice.
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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.
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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...
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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...
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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....
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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.
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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...
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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