Serbia Presidential Election Date: Dispute Over Deadline
Ugljesa Mrdic lists nine possible Sundays for the vote, from November 1 to December 27, while Tanasije Marinkovic says Ana Brnabic must call the election immediately.
The date of Serbia’s presidential election is still unknown. A day after Aleksandar Vucic resigned, constitutional lawyers, members of election bodies and party officials are calculating differently both when the election must be called and the last day on which voting can take place. Vucic submitted his resignation on September 27, 2026, and the next day National Assembly Speaker Ana Brnabic took over as acting President of the Republic.
We covered that handover of duties on September 28. What is new is the election calendar: on the morning of September 29, Ugljesa Mrdic, a member of the Presidency of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), set out nine possible voting dates in a statement and disputed the reading of constitutional law professor Tanasije Marinkovic, who argues that Brnabic must call the election the same day.
Which dates does Mrdic list?
According to Mrdic, there are currently nine Sundays available for voting:
- November: 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29
- December: 6, 13, 20 and 27
Mrdic counts the three-month deadline from the day the resignation was submitted, which makes December 27 the last day for voting. By his account, Article 120 of the Constitution provides that the election must be held no later than three months after the resignation is submitted, while Article 10, paragraph 3 of the Law on the Election of the President refers to a period of three months from the day the President’s mandate ends. Marinkovic’s interpretation, in Mrdic’s view, conflates two concepts: Article 114, paragraph 2 of the Constitution distinguishes between “the conclusion of the election”, meaning the end of the whole electoral process, and “the holding of the election”, which is voting day.
In his view, the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure do not change that calculation. Article 267 of the Rules says that when the Speaker informs deputies of a resignation, she simultaneously calls the election, and Mrdic claims the word “simultaneously” only means that the formal calling begins once the mandate ends. His conclusion reads:
The Rules of Procedure, as a bylaw, cannot shorten or exceed the deadlines dictated by higher legal acts, such as the Constitution and the law
Who will choose among the nine Sundays, Mrdic specified in the same statement: “In line with her constitutional and legal powers, Assembly Speaker Ana Brnabic will determine which of these dates will be voting day in the presidential election.”
Why does Marinkovic want the election called now?
Marinkovic, a professor at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, told N1 on September 28 that the resignation was logged at the Assembly’s registry and that Brnabic informed deputies of it. His conclusion is clear: “She must call the presidential election today.”
Marinkovic starts from a legal framework under which no fewer than 30 and no more than 60 days may pass between calling the election and voting. November 1 is theoretically possible, but he rules it out for symbolic and political reasons, which leaves November 8, 15 and 22 by his count. He sees the outer limit differently from Mrdic, tying it to how long the Speaker can stand in for the President:
The Constitution provides that the Assembly Speaker can stand in for the President for three months at most, which means that is until December 28.
By that day, Marinkovic adds, the newly elected President must take the oath, so 15 days must also be allowed for a runoff, disputes and the commissions’ consolidated reports. Delay, he warned, has a price: “If the calling of the election is postponed, a constitutional norm will be violated and an official position abused.”
City Electoral Commission member Zoran Alimpic also cites Article 267 of the Rules of Procedure, but from the opposite end to Mrdic: in his assessment, if the election were called on September 27 or 28, it could be held on November 1, 8, 15 or 22.
What is the last day for voting?
The sources do not agree on the final deadline either. Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) Chairman Vladimir Dimitrijevic told RTS that the election for the new President must be held “no later than December 27 this year”, the same date Mrdic gives. Marinkovic names December 28 as the limit, but for the new President’s oath, not for voting. Political scientist Aleksandar Ivkovic went a step further earlier, telling Nova.rs:
The final deadline is December 26. Given that this date falls on a Saturday, and assuming the presidential election will be held on a Sunday, which has been the practice for years, citizens of Serbia could go to the polls again on December 20.
Ivkovic said the election could also be called after the deadlines are used up to the maximum, in which case the date would be known only at the end of November.
The Center for Local Self-Government (CLS) describes a different picture. According to CLS’s information, December 13 is currently being considered as the most serious option, the election would be called only after the parliamentary elections are concluded, and the campaign would last no more than 30 days. That date is also on Mrdic’s list.
What is known about the link to the parliamentary elections?
The presidential election comes in the middle of the campaign for early parliamentary elections, which Vucic called after the Government adopted a proposal to dissolve the Assembly in early September. RIK is at the same time running elections for national minority council members, called for November 8, one of the Sundays on both Mrdic’s and Marinkovic’s lists. Dimitrijevic said everything will be ready by October 25 for the elections to run smoothly.
In July, appearing on TV Prva, Vucic described the sequence like this: “So it is logical, if the parliamentary elections are in October, that the presidential one is possible at the end of December, the beginning of January.” January falls outside the deadline cited by every source in this article.
None of the actors says a decision to call the presidential election has already been made. Under the Law on the Election of the President, the decision takes effect when it is published in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, and according to Mrdic, Brnabic chooses voting day. According to Marinkovic, the deadline for her to do so would expire today.
