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Parliament

Serbia's Parliament holds the formal power to pass laws and scrutinize the Government, but has continued into 2026 to manipulate procedures, sideline the opposition, and evade accountability to maintain the ruling majority's grip on the institution. See below the key patterns of obstruction.
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.
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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
March

Observers from the Congress of the Council of Europe reported that the 29 March 2026 local elections were marked by violence, tensions, and irregularities, despite procedures inside polling stations often being largely in line with the law. They documented incidents of violence, the presence of unidentified groups near polling stations, breaches of voting secrecy, and broader concerns about pressure on voters, media imbalance, and the blurring of lines between state and ruling party.
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Parliament in numbers

Legislative pace · 14th convocation
Laws passed per session: highest rate in parliamentary history
The 14th convocation averages 22 laws per session, leaving under 30 minutes of debate per law.
<30 minutes of debate per law on average, as sessions bundle agenda items into single debates.
Source: CRTA Open Parliament · April 2026
Origin of legislation · 14th convocation
Who actually writes Serbia's laws?
305 legislative pieces adopted in total: 153 laws and 152 ratifications of international agreements.
95% Government
Government-proposed 95%
Other origin 5%
94% of laws passed with zero amendments adopted in plenum
Each circle = 1 law (153 total). Orange = no amendments. Gray = at least one amendment passed.
Source: CRTA Open Parliament · April 2026

A pattern of obstruction, 2024-2026

Key incidents in the current convocation

  • Ongoing: Sessions scheduled avg. 3 days in advance (mandatory minimum: 7 days)
  • Apr 2026: No-confidence motion deadlocked: majority left without quorum, keeping session in open limbo while scheduling other legislative work
  • 2024-26: Minister question time held only 3 times over 26 months
  • 2024-26: Transcripts altered to conceal Speaker's procedural omissions during voting sessions
  • Jun 2025: Citizens' initiative with 38,000 signatures rediscovered after being "misplaced" in the Assembly building for 2 years; still unanswered
  • Nov 2024: Speaker refuses to place opposition no-confidence motion on the agenda
  • Nov 2024: First-ever financial penalties on MPs - 90% levied against opposition
Update
Snap Election Deadline Calculator
Enter a date and find out what is still legally possible - and what has already run out of time.
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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.
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Serbian Parliament
Brief
Amendments to Key Judicial Laws: Systemic Changes Without Public Consultation
On 28 January 2026, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted a set of five laws intro...
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Serbian Parliament
Brief
January in the Assembly: Sprint Laws and Cold Shoulders
A month of rushed legislation, a delegation turned away, and a fire in the wrong office at the wrong...
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Update
Conflict-driven coverage paints the EP delegation as hostile, not a partner
As the arrival of the European Parliament fact-finding mission to Belgrade (22–24 January) approached, the domestic public scene - from the officials to pro-government media - treated it less as an official mission and more as an “incursion” and a political provocation. The discourse was dominated by insults, delegitimisation, and openly hostile rhetoric toward MEPs, especially the EP rapporteur f...
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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...
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Update
Serbia’s Proposed “Foreign Agents” Law in Comparative Perspective
A draft law submitted to the Serbian parliament in November 2024 would introduce a special registry for organizations receiving significant foreign funding. While presented as a transparency measure, its definitions, control mechanisms, and political context resemble similar legislation adopted in Russia and proposed in several other countries in the region.
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Brief
Festival of Unconstitutionality
Dozens of Acts Illegally Adopted in a Single Session of the National Assembly
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Update
CRTA’s Initiative Before the Constitutional Court: National Assembly Illegally Adopted 54 Laws
CRTA has submitted an initiative to the Constitutional Court of Serbia requesting a review of the constitutionality of 54 laws adopted during the Second Session of the Second Regular Sitting of the National Assembly, held from November 25 to 27, 2024.
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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 Updates