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On the evening of 24 September the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) adopted a decision establishing that the electoral list "Izbor naroda - Miroslav Miki Aleksić - Miloš Parandilović - Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta" had been withdrawn. The list was submitted by the coalition Narodna Srbija - Narodni pokret Srbije, Novo lice Srbije and Ekološki ustanak - and had been proclaimed on 18 September as the ninth electoral list. The withdrawal request was filed on 22 September at 11:17. RIK President Vladimir Dimitrijević stated that the request had been submitted in good time and by an authorised person.
The coalition explained the move as a contribution to what it described as a referendum atmosphere around the 25 October elections, and said it would redirect its capacity towards broader citizen mobilisation and monitoring of the electoral process rather than towards its own campaign.
The procedural question the withdrawal opened is not settled by the law. RIK member Tanasije Marinković, a professor of constitutional law, warned at the session that there is a legal gap as to what happens to the place and the number under which a withdrawn list was proclaimed. He cautioned that a shift in the order could damage the campaigns of other lists, and pointed to the risk of manipulation through proxy lists that would occupy the place and the number of an authentic list.
The Law on parliamentary elections regulates the two ends of this question but not the middle. A submitter may withdraw a proclaimed list up to the day the consolidated electoral list is determined, and RIK establishes the withdrawal by decision. The consolidated electoral list is determined no later than 15 days before election day, and the order of lists on it follows the order in which they were proclaimed. What the law does not address is what happens to an ordinal position vacated by a withdrawal - whether the remaining lists close the gap or whether the sequence is preserved with a number left unused.
The distinction matters because the number voters will see is created only at that final step. Until the consolidated electoral list is determined, no list has a ballot number - only a place in the order in which lists were proclaimed. The numbers already in public circulation are therefore expectations rather than entitlements, which is precisely why a shift of one place is a practical problem for lists that have begun campaigning on a number they assumed they would carry. CRTA's explainer on how the consolidated electoral list is compiled sets out the same rule.
The concern about proxy lists is not hypothetical in the Serbian context. Lists with names and numbering that invite confusion with authentic ones have been a recurring feature of recent electoral cycles, and an unregulated vacancy in the sequence is the kind of gap that such a tactic can exploit. Resolving the question by clear and publicly reasoned rule, rather than case by case, is what would remove that space.
The timetable is tight but not exhausted. Lists may be submitted until 4 October, so the sequence will continue to grow; by 22 September RIK had proclaimed eleven lists. Dimitrijević said there is enough time before 9 October, when the consolidated electoral list is determined and published in the Official Gazette, for a separate session to settle the matter in principle. How RIK answers it will apply to every list proclaimed after the ninth, and will set the precedent for any further withdrawal before the deadline.
The coalition explained the move as a contribution to what it described as a referendum atmosphere around the 25 October elections, and said it would redirect its capacity towards broader citizen mobilisation and monitoring of the electoral process rather than towards its own campaign.
The procedural question the withdrawal opened is not settled by the law. RIK member Tanasije Marinković, a professor of constitutional law, warned at the session that there is a legal gap as to what happens to the place and the number under which a withdrawn list was proclaimed. He cautioned that a shift in the order could damage the campaigns of other lists, and pointed to the risk of manipulation through proxy lists that would occupy the place and the number of an authentic list.
The Law on parliamentary elections regulates the two ends of this question but not the middle. A submitter may withdraw a proclaimed list up to the day the consolidated electoral list is determined, and RIK establishes the withdrawal by decision. The consolidated electoral list is determined no later than 15 days before election day, and the order of lists on it follows the order in which they were proclaimed. What the law does not address is what happens to an ordinal position vacated by a withdrawal - whether the remaining lists close the gap or whether the sequence is preserved with a number left unused.
Until the consolidated electoral list is determined, no list has a ballot number - only a place in the order in which lists were proclaimed.
The distinction matters because the number voters will see is created only at that final step. Until the consolidated electoral list is determined, no list has a ballot number - only a place in the order in which lists were proclaimed. The numbers already in public circulation are therefore expectations rather than entitlements, which is precisely why a shift of one place is a practical problem for lists that have begun campaigning on a number they assumed they would carry. CRTA's explainer on how the consolidated electoral list is compiled sets out the same rule.
The concern about proxy lists is not hypothetical in the Serbian context. Lists with names and numbering that invite confusion with authentic ones have been a recurring feature of recent electoral cycles, and an unregulated vacancy in the sequence is the kind of gap that such a tactic can exploit. Resolving the question by clear and publicly reasoned rule, rather than case by case, is what would remove that space.
The timetable is tight but not exhausted. Lists may be submitted until 4 October, so the sequence will continue to grow; by 22 September RIK had proclaimed eleven lists. Dimitrijević said there is enough time before 9 October, when the consolidated electoral list is determined and published in the Official Gazette, for a separate session to settle the matter in principle. How RIK answers it will apply to every list proclaimed after the ninth, and will set the precedent for any further withdrawal before the deadline.
