RIK Still Hasn't Set List Forms, Deadline Split Oct 4 or 5
Two days after Serbia's snap election was called for October 25, RIK still hasn't issued the forms for candidate lists, and outlets disagree on the deadline to submit them.
Two days after Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called snap parliamentary elections, the Republic Election Commission (RIK) still hasn’t issued the forms required to submit election lists. Until that happens, the certification of voter signatures can’t formally begin either, even though signature collection was already supposed to be underway under the law.
The decision calling the elections was signed on September 9, with voting day set for October 25. Srpske Vesti reported earlier that the deadline for submitting election lists is October 4, and that RIK is due to confirm the combined list on October 9. What remains unclear is exactly when signature collection itself opens, and the answer hinges on one step RIK hasn’t taken yet.
The three-day legal deadline is still running
Article 24 of the Law on the Election of Members of Parliament requires RIK to issue the forms for submitting an election list within three days of the decision calling the election taking effect. According to unofficial information from the Masina portal, published on September 10, the RIK session where the forms will be decided is expected to take place tomorrow, during the day.
Until the forms are issued, the collection of notarized written voter statements can’t start, since a statement can only be given on the form RIK prescribes. The commission’s last session before the election was called was its 14th, held on September 3, according to data from RIK’s website.
The law also sets a deadline for publishing decisions: once adopted, they must appear on the commission’s website without delay, and no later than 24 hours after the session ends, with the date and time of publication noted.
How many signatures are needed and where they’re certified
An election list needs at least 10,000 certified voter statements, and a national minority list needs at least 5,000. The statements are certified by a notary, by a municipal or city administration, or, in places without a notary, by a court.
Compared with earlier election cycles, one thing has changed: a single voter can now put their signature behind more than one election list at the same time, which wasn’t previously allowed.
Why the submission deadline differs from outlet to outlet
The deadline for submitting election lists is 20 days before voting day, but outlets don’t agree on what date that actually is. Ekspres, Nova, and Pavle Dimitrijevic, a representative of the observer mission at the Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA), count that day as October 4. B92 and BT Public News cite October 5. Srpske Vesti is reporting both figures, since RIK hasn’t published an official corrected date.
Dimitrijevic explained the timeline leading up to the list submission to broadcaster N1.
“The final deadline for submitting a list is October 4, that is 20 days before election day, and then by October 9 the joint election list, which RIK proclaims.”
RIK rules on each submitted list within 48 hours of its submission, and confirms the combined election list no later than October 9.
What happens between now and election day
The voter register closes 15 days before the vote, on October 9, while polling stations are announced 20 days before election day. Seven days before the vote, RIK publishes on its website the number of signatures collected per list and per municipality, which will be the first real check on how close each list actually is to the threshold it needs to take part.
Election silence begins at midnight on October 23. On voting day, October 25, polling stations will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Speaking about the wider context, Dimitrijevic also left open the question of whether this will be the only election cycle this year.
“We’ve heard various announcements from the president, we have experience from earlier election cycles where different electoral combinations were organized around dates, and that’s why I say we’ll see which elections we end up having this year.”
Until tomorrow’s RIK session, it also remains unclear exactly when the clock starts on the window that gives parties, coalitions, and citizen groups 20 days to gather the 10,000 signatures they need before the list submission deadline.
