Democratic Party Disputes Mandatory Poll Monitor Training

The Democratic Party (DS) says that poll monitors from the Student List do not have to complete training to serve on a polling board, and that local authorities telling them otherwise are breaking the law. The party published the statement on Sunday, October 18, and it was carried by Beta, N1, Danas and Nova.

According to the statement, city and municipal administrations are inviting monitors to training sessions and telling them the sessions are mandatory. The sessions are being organized on the basis of a letter from Srdjan Smiljanic, secretary of the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK), Nedeljnik reports. The same outlet writes that the statement is signed by DS member of the Serbian National Assembly Filip Tatalovic, while N1 and Danas attribute the text to the party alone.

What does DS say about the law?

The party points to a deadline set in the law. Training, the statement says, is not a legal condition for membership of a polling board, because “the provisions introducing a mandatory certificate of completed training apply only from January 1, 2028.” From this DS concludes that a letter from the RIK cannot stand in for the law. The statement reads:

“A letter from the RIK secretary cannot change the law or bring its application forward. The commissions’ duty to organize training gives them no right to invent requirements for monitors,” the Democratic Party said.

The party separates two things here: the commissions are obliged to organize training, but in its reading that does not entitle anyone to demand training as a condition for monitors. Nedeljnik also reports that the party called it unacceptable for the letter to be used to deceive and intimidate the people who will be guarding citizens’ votes.

Why does DS object to photographing participants?

The second part of the dispute concerns the letter itself. DS claims it requires that photographs showing all participants be sent to the RIK after every training session. The statement calls this a “particularly scandalous demand,” and the party sees the consequences mainly in smaller towns:

“In smaller places, where people already suffer pressure from local SNS powerbrokers, insisting on photographing everyone present sends a clear intimidating message: that everyone who wants to guard citizens’ votes should feel watched and exposed,” the DS statement says.

This is a claim by one political party about the contents of a letter that was not published with the statement. We have not seen the letter itself, so for now the account of its contents rests on DS.

What is still unknown?

No response from the RIK or from Secretary Smiljanic had been published at the time of writing. The coverage of the statement that we reviewed also does not name any municipality or city where monitors were invited to training and warned it was mandatory, so it is unclear whether this is happening in one place or in several local authorities.

For Student List monitors, and for the commissions inviting them, the open question is which provision applies right now: the one on the duty to organize training, or the one on a certificate of completed training, which according to DS the law requires only from January 1, 2028. Until the RIK responds, the only public answer to that question comes from the party that issued the statement.