RIK Rejects Objections to Vucic List, Forms Commissions

Serbia’s Republic Election Commission (RIK) rejected as unfounded the objections of four voters to the certification of the “Aleksandar Vucic, United Serbia” election list, at its 22nd session held on the evening of Wednesday, September 16. The session, chaired by RIK president Vladimir Dimitrijevic, was attended by 21 commission members.

The objections were filed by Zoran Gavrilovic, Bosko Kacanski of Novi Sad, Dragisa Calic of Pancevo, and Milos Djajic. According to their filings, all four asked that the Serbian Progressive Party’s list be rejected because it carries the name of the sitting president of the Republic, Aleksandar Vucic, who tops the list while still holding public office.

Dimitrijevic explained the rejection by pointing to comparative practice in the European Union.

“We looked into this a bit when these objections reached the commission. Nowhere, in any European Union country, is there a ban on this kind of candidacy. Not in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Poland or Italy, except in Croatia. There it exists, and nowhere else. Not in Serbia either,” the RIK president said.

At the same session, RIK issued decisions establishing permanent local election commissions in five local self-government units in Kosovo and Metohija: Pristina, Gnjilane, Gora, Kosovska Mitrovica and Pec, to carry out the parliamentary elections. The commission also adopted an amendment to its decision on polling stations with more than 2,500 or fewer than 100 registered voters. Both decisions passed with the votes of all members present.

During the discussion on that agenda item, RIK member Vladimir Dragas proposed removing one polling station in the Zvezdara municipality from the list, a station RIK itself had approved for that exact number of voters just a day earlier. The proposal failed to win the necessary majority, leaving the September 15 decision unchanged.

Wednesday’s session followed on from what RIK had established a day earlier, at its 21st session, when it ordered the “People’s Serbia” coalition to correct a deficiency in its “People’s Choice” list within 48 hours of the ruling’s publication on the RIK website. Srpske Novine has not previously reported on that decision. It has, however, reported on the “Aleksandar Vucic, United Serbia” list itself, when BIRODI requested a review of whether President Vucic’s name could legally top an election list while he continues to hold office.

Serbia’s snap parliamentary elections are scheduled for Sunday, October 25, 2026, when citizens will elect 250 members of parliament. Until then, RIK continues to rule on objections to certified lists and to form election commissions on the ground, including in Kosovo and Metohija, where the conduct of voting has for years been a particularly sensitive issue.