Serbia's RIK Unanimously Sets 29 Polling Stations in Prisons
Convicts will vote at correctional facilities in Serbia's snap parliamentary election. The commission also approved the allocation of polling board members for 8,210 polling stations.
The Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) decided at its session on Tuesday evening, September 29, that convicted persons will vote at 29 polling stations in correctional facilities in the snap parliamentary election on October 25. The proposal on prison polling stations came from the Ministry of Justice, and the commission adopted it unanimously.
RIK President Vladimir Dimitrijevic said at the session: “The decision was made unanimously, at the proposal of the Ministry of Justice.” He added that he believes the number of prison polling stations was the same in previous elections. The available reports from the session do not back that claim with figures from earlier votes.
Who proposes the members of polling boards?
At the same session, the commission adopted a decision setting the allocation under which parliamentary groups propose members and deputy members of permanent polling boards. The allocation was presented to the commission by Vladimir Sutic, acting deputy director of the Republic Statistical Office. According to him, it was made in proportion to the share of each parliamentary group in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.
Sutic said the allocation covers 8,210 polling stations, or 49,260 polling board members. The reports differ on one detail: Tanjug, UNA and Dnevnik mention polling board members, while 013info writes about members and deputy members. The total figure is the same in all of them.
The published reports do not say how many board seats go to each parliamentary group, so they also do not show how many members the governing majority proposes and how many the opposition does.
What is known about the deadline and next steps?
The figure of 8,210 polling stations was already known, along with the deadline to close the voter register on October 9. Tuesday’s session adds two things: where convicts vote and by what key the boards are filled. The election is scheduled for October 25, 2026, which is 25 days from the publication of this text.
