Signatures for Vucic's List by City: Belgrade, Then Novi Sad

Documents submitted by the “Aleksandar Vucic, United Serbia” list to the Republic Election Commission (REC), published today by the Serbian News Media portal, also reveal how the certified voter signatures break down by city and municipality. Previously, only the total number and the REC’s decision to approve the list were known; the territorial breakdown became available for the first time only with this afternoon’s publication.

In brief

• Total in the documents: 223,933 certified signatures
• Belgrade (all municipalities combined): 60,071
• Highest total outside Belgrade, in Novi Sad: 12,568
• Kragujevac: 1,819, fewer than neighboring Arandjelovac’s 1,830
• On September 13, the REC determined that 209,130 signatures were legally valid

According to the records, when all of Belgrade’s city municipalities are added together, the number of signatures collected in the capital reaches 60,071, or slightly more than a quarter of all signatures recorded nationwide. The most were certified in Zemun, 7,271, followed by New Belgrade with 6,597 and Palilula with 5,799. Cukarica follows with 5,781, then Zvezdara with 5,593 and Vozdovac with 5,284 signatures, while the numbers are considerably lower in Stari Grad, Rakovica and Vracar.

Novi Sad clearly leads outside the capital

Outside Belgrade, the same data show Novi Sad clearly in the lead with 12,568 certified signatures, more than double the total in Nis, which is second with 6,166. Pancevo follows with 4,343, then Sombor with 3,743 and Zrenjanin with 3,685 signatures. Kragujevac does not appear among the leading cities in this ranking: the documents record 1,819 signatures for that city, fewer than in neighboring Arandjelovac, where 1,830 were recorded, 11 more than in Kragujevac. The gap is notable precisely because Kragujevac has a considerably larger population. In the surrounding Sumadija municipalities, 534 signatures were recorded in Topola and 516 in Knic.

The legal minimum for filing an election list in parliamentary elections is 10,000 certified voter statements. According to the documents cited by SNM, the list submitted more than 22 times that minimum.

Why do the numbers differ?

Sources do not agree on the exact total number of signatures, and the discrepancy runs across several dates. When the list was filed on September 12, pro-government media reported that 224,557 signatures had been collected. The documents cited by Serbian News Media put the number at 223,933. The Republic Election Commission, however, determined a day later, on September 13, that only 209,130 of those signatures were legally valid, since some voters were not on the electoral roll at the time their signatures were certified. President Aleksandar Vucic had earlier claimed on Instagram that 170,000 signatures were collected in just three hours, a claim that drew the most debate at the REC session.

At that session, held on September 13, REC member Dusan Dincic voiced doubts about the pace of signature collection, saying he believed it “was not physically possible to bring in [that number of signatures] in such a short time.” REC member Vladimir Dragas offered a similar assessment, saying he “sees no way for that number of signatures to be certified.” REC member Marko Danilovic, on the other hand, called the list’s paperwork in order, stating that the list “meets the requirements and is legally valid.” REC president Vladimir Dimitrijevic called on commission members with any knowledge of possible unlawful conduct to file a report with the competent authorities.

Despite the objections raised at the session, the REC certified the list and gave it first place on the ballot, as Serbian News previously reported. The list carries 250 candidates, headed by President Aleksandar Vucic, followed by SNS leader Milos Vucevic and outgoing National Assembly speaker Ana Brnabic. Parliamentary elections are set for October 25, and the REC has not yet announced any further explanation for the gap between the 223,933 signatures in the documents and the 209,130 signatures the commission itself deemed legally valid.