RIK Halts Bogoljub Karic's List Over Disputed Signatures

Serbia’s Republic Election Commission (RIK) unanimously ordered, on Wednesday evening, September 23, that all responsible notarizing bodies urgently verify the notarizations of voter signatures backing the election list “Bogoljub Karic, Movement Strength of Serbia, BK.” The decision came at the commission’s 28th session, which opened around 10 p.m., the same evening the party submitted its list for the snap parliamentary elections set for October 25.

The session was chaired by RIK president Vladimir Dimitrijevic, with 24 of the commission’s 26 members present. The proposal to send a verification request to the notarizing bodies passed with 24 votes in favor, none against and no abstentions.

The proposal was put to the members by Tanasije Marinkovic, a member of RIK. He said that commission members and deputy members who had been present when the list was submitted, during the routine review of documentation, had spotted grounds to doubt the legal validity of some voter signature statements of support.

“We propose that a request be sent to the notarizing bodies that certified these signatures, whether city and municipal administrations or public notaries, asking them to submit, as soon as possible, the information relevant to our decision,” Marinkovic said at the session.

The request goes to every notarizing body that certified signatures for that list, city and municipal administrations and public notaries alike. They are being asked whether voters’ statements of support for the list were entered into the notarization registers, whether such entries exist at all, and how many statements were recorded. RIK members also asked for the entire body of documentation submitted by the party to be reviewed again.

The deadline for a decision on the list is 48 hours from submission, so the notarizing bodies were called on to provide the requested data without delay. A review does not by itself mean a list has been rejected; RIK has so far certified 11 lists for the October 25 elections, and the deadline for submitting new lists runs out at midnight on October 4. This marks the first case in this election cycle in which the commission has requested a signature verification before deciding on a list’s certification.

RIK received the list earlier the same day. It carries 250 candidates for parliament, headed by Bogoljub Karic, and was submitted with more than 10,000 voter signatures. The list’s official name reads “Bogoljub Karic, Movement STRENGTH OF SERBIA, BK.”

After submitting the list, Karic outlined part of his movement’s program to reporters, which he said has 12 points, along with an announcement that the government should have 12 ministries.

“We believe there should be as many ministries as Jesus had apostles. We are committed to cutting the bureaucracy in half, and finding other work for that other half. No one will end up on the street,” Karic said.

He also said that, in his movement’s view, Serbia’s National Assembly should have no more than 125 lawmakers, along with an announcement of salaries no lower than 3,000 euros and pensions no lower than 1,500 euros.

At the list’s submission, Karic also had a message for the other contenders in the race.

“I hope all participants, political parties, will call on their members and supporters to let the election pass in peace, love and dignity, as befits Serbia, the Serbian family and our tradition,” Karic said.

Whether the notarizing bodies will manage to submit the requested data within the deadline RIK has set for itself, and whether Bogoljub Karic’s list will be certified before the October 4 cutoff, will become clear in the coming days.