Narodna Srbija to Withdraw Izbor Naroda List by Monday

Serbia’s Republic Election Commission (RIK) certified the electoral list Izbor Naroda: Miroslav Miki Aleksic, Milos Parandilovic, Aleksandar Jovanovic Cuta under registration number nine on the evening of Friday, September 18. That gave the list’s sponsor, the Narodna Srbija coalition (made up of the National Movement of Serbia, New Face of Serbia and the Ecological Uprising Movement), the legal grounds to carry out what it had announced a week earlier: officially pulling out of the race for the early parliamentary election on October 25.

What happened since September 15

On September 15, the coalition announced it was dropping out of the election and would instead back the Student list, even though it had previously handed RIK a list carrying more than 10,000 signatures. That same day, however, the Republic Election Commission found the list was short 67 legally valid voter statements and gave the coalition 48 hours to fix the shortfall.

The list’s authorized representative delivered the supplementary documentation at 11 a.m. on Friday. RIK member Brankica Jovic explained at the session how the supplement was checked.

“A review of the submitted documentation established that the submitted list of voters includes 191 voters supporting the electoral list, while a count of the submitted voter statements found that 191 statements had been submitted, two of which were found not to be legally valid, since they lacked a signature or the certifier’s stamp, and were withdrawn by the person who submitted the additional documentation.”

She added that a further check of the list found one person who was not entered in the unified voter register, bringing the final count of newly submitted, legally valid statements to 188. On that basis, RIK concluded that the legal conditions for certifying the list had been met.

Until what date does the law allow withdrawing a list?

One of the coalition’s leaders, Aleksandar Jovanovic Cuta, confirmed after the session that the withdrawal would follow as soon as possible.

“The Republic Election Commission has officially certified our list, so now the conditions have also been met for us to withdraw it officially. That will be done by Monday at the latest,” Jovanovic Cuta said.

Article 81 of the Law on the Election of Members of Parliament states that a sponsor may withdraw a certified electoral list no later than the day the cumulative electoral list is determined, at which point the Republic Election Commission issues a ruling confirming the withdrawal. For a coalition list, withdrawal requires the consent of every party in the coalition, unless the coalition agreement says otherwise. Under Article 83, RIK must decide on the cumulative electoral list no later than 15 days before election day, which for October 25 falls on October 10. That date is therefore the formal deadline for withdrawal, even though the coalition itself has announced it will complete the process as early as Monday, September 21.

National Movement of Serbia deputy leader Borislav Novakovic explained why the coalition chose to submit additional signatures rather than simply drop out before certification: it wanted the withdrawal to be beyond formal dispute.

“We want to be completely credible when it comes to legal and political culture.”

The coalition said its goal in withdrawing is to leave room for the Student list to pick up a larger share of the vote.

At the same September 18 session, the Republic Election Commission also certified the list Autenticna Desnica, dr Milos Jovanovic, submitted by the New Democratic Party of Serbia and the Monarchists, with 10,436 legally valid voter statements, above the legal minimum of 10,000. Srpske Novine reported the certification of both lists that same evening. With Izbor Naroda certified, the Republic Election Commission had, as of September 20, certified nine electoral lists in total for the early parliamentary election. The deadline for submitting electoral lists expires at midnight on October 4, and the unified voter register closes on October 9, one day before RIK is legally required to determine the cumulative electoral list.