RIK Sets Minority Council Results, Finds 161 Errors

The Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) set the first official results by list for all 21 directly elected national minority councils on Monday evening, November 9, at its 79th session. Until then there had been only estimates released by the lists themselves, mainly for the Hungarian council and the Bosniak National Council. The figures came with bad news for the process: 161 errors were found in the records, and RIK has not yet decided whether voting will be repeated at some polling stations.

According to a statement on the commission’s website, the session was chaired by RIK deputy chairman Marko Jankovic.

How many errors are in the records, and what happens next?

Jankovic said that of the 161 errors, 72 are serious and 89 minor. N1 reports that he also said 161 records must go to a ruling. KoSSev reports that it has yet to be decided how the errors will be corrected and whether voting will be repeated anywhere. Processing of the election material, according to the same source, is not finished at every polling station, which means every figure in this article is preliminary and covers only the polling stations processed so far.

The deadlines are as follows: RIK publishes results within 96 hours of polls closing, that is by November 12, and issues the decision on seat allocation within three days of setting final results. Seats have not been formally allocated.

How many voters turned out?

According to RIK data, 481,785 voters were eligible at 949 polling stations, 52 lists were declared, and 482,849 ballots were printed. KoSSev reports that a slightly different number of people on the special voters’ register, 481,789, was mentioned at the session.

RIK has not published overall turnout. Commission member Sofija Mandic estimated that between 30 and 40 percent of those registered voted, with somewhat higher turnout among Bosniaks and Hungarians, and pointed to problems with enrollment in the special voters’ register.

How did the largest councils vote?

By number of registered voters, the largest are the Bosniak, Hungarian and Roma councils.

Bosniak council. Results are in from 383 of 390 polling stations, with 113,913 registered voters and 36,606 votes cast. The Cuvari Sandzaka (Guardians of Sandzak) list received 14,990 votes (41.56 percent), the Sandzak Democratic Party of Elmir Habibovic 12,624, the Movement for the Unification of Bosniaks of Usama Zukorlic 7,203 (19.97 percent), and United Bosniaks of Samir Tandir 887 (2.46 percent). For the Sandzak Democratic Party, RTS, Telegraf and Novosti give 35.35 percent, while N1 rounded to 35. No list passed half of the votes, which matches what we reported earlier about the results for the Bosniak National Council, where Cuvari Sandzaka led without a majority.

Hungarian council. Results are in from 445 of 465 stations, with 99,364 registered and 39,394 voters casting ballots. Hungarian Concord has 70.69 percent, and the Movement for a New Beginning of Vojvodina Hungarians 11,156 votes (28.32 percent). Sources disagree on the number of votes for Hungarian Concord: RTS, Telegraf and Novosti give 21,847, while Subotica.com gives 27,847. Applying 70.69 percent to 39,394 votes cast gives 27,847, so the second figure fits the published percentage. Subotica.com also reports a preliminary seat distribution, 25 for Hungarian Concord and ten for the other list, but that is not a RIK decision.

Roma council. Results are in from 585 of 607 stations, with 57,085 registered and 6,888 votes cast. The only list, United Roma for a United Serbia, received 5,881 votes (98.43 percent).

What do the other councils show?

• Albanian council: 140 of 153 stations processed, 32,123 registered, 12,444 votes cast. The Party for Democratic Action, whose list was led by Enkel Redzepi, has 4,285 votes (34.44 percent), the Movement for Democratic Progress of Sciprim Musliu 3,469 (27.88 percent), Alternative for Change of Levent Cazimi 2,363 (18.99 percent) and the Democratic Party of Sali Salihi 2,235 (17.96 percent). According to figures released earlier by the list of Saip Kamberi herself, her party had 4,769 votes and ten of 29 seats, but RIK published only the processed stations, so the seat distribution cannot yet be confirmed.
• Croatian council: 384 of 396 stations processed, 20,531 registered, 7,158 votes cast. Croatian National Vision 4,597 (65.65 percent), Together for the HNV 1,297 (18.57 percent), Croatian Union of Vojvodina, All According to Plan 2026, 992 (14.17 percent).
• Slovak council: 242 of 245 stations processed, 25,397 registered, 11,524 votes cast. The list We Serve Only the Slovak People of Juraj Cervenak received 8,406 votes (78.15 percent), Slovaks Together 2,232 (20.75 percent).
• Romanian council: 330 of 335 stations processed, 19,880 registered, 5,513 votes cast. Romanians Together We Go Forward 3,025 votes (54.94 percent according to RTS and Telegraf, 54.90 according to N1), the Romanian Party Romanians Win 2,302 (41.78 percent).
• Bunjevci council: the list Dr Suzana Kujundzic Ostojic leads with 762 votes (45.22 percent), and Subotica.com reports a preliminary seat distribution of 9, 8 and 2.
• Montenegrin council: Montenegrin Electors of Serbia, Prof. Dr Cedomir Cupic, 1,301 votes (65.48 percent).
• Macedonian council: Macedonians Together 1,234 votes (45.25 percent).
• Rusyn council: On the Wave of Change 1,888 votes (64.59 percent).
• Bulgarian council: It’s Us, the natural movement of Vladimir Zaharijev, 3,017 votes (47.39 percent).
• Vlach, Egyptian and Slovenian councils: one list each, with 3,077 votes (98.28 percent), 285 (100 percent) and 671 (98.53 percent).

How were the Russian and Goran councils chosen?

These two councils are not elected directly but at electoral assemblies, held on November 8 in the National Assembly. All 30 electors voted for the list of Milovan Curcic, and 19 members of the Russian council were elected. All 21 electors voted for the list of Amir Kajkus, and 15 members of the Goran council were elected.

The next step is the publication of final results, by November 12 at the latest, and whether voting is repeated at some stations depends on it. Only after that does RIK issue decisions on seat allocation, and the figures in this report, including the conflicting vote counts for the Hungarian council, will then be replaced by final ones.