The meeting was chaired by Nemanja Nenadic, and attended by Working Group members Ugljesa Mrdic, Ugljesa Markovic, Ana Jakovljevic, Jelena Jerinic, Filip Tatalovic, Ana Krstic, Risto Kostov, Luka Pusic, Zagorka Aleksic, Djordje Komlenski, Rejhan Kurtovic, Ahmedin Skrijelj, Pavle Dimitrijevic and Bojan Klacar, as well as substitute members Nikola Banjac, Marko Milosevic, Zlata Jusufovic, Marina Mijatovic, Natasa Mihailovic Vacic, Aleksandar Stevanovic, Vladana Jarakovic and Robert Sepi.

Proposals how to improve the electoral process, submitted, as agreed at the first meeting, by the members of the Working Group by noon on 7 May, were on the agenda, as well as ruling on the submitted proposals as per priority set by the Working Group Chairman.

In addition to the Working Group members and substitute members, at the invitation of the Working Group, the meeting was also attended by Sasa Simovic, Assistant Director for Legal Affairs at the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) who, at the beginning of the meeting, as per the agenda, briefed the members of the Working Group on the new Rulebook on Obligations of Media Service Providers during the election campaign. Following the briefing, Sasa Simovic answered the questions of the Working Group members which mainly concerned the manner in which the new rulebook ensures the application of certain ODIHR recommendations.

The Working Group Chairman then informed the members of the Working Group on the received proposals for the amendment of certain regulations, as well as other initiatives submitted within the deadline by the People’s Movement of Serbia - New Face of Serbia Parliamentary Group, Green–Left Front - Don’t Let Belgrade D(r)оwn Parliamentary Group, Ecological Uprising Parliamentary Group, Party of Democratic Action of Sandzak, as well as the associations Transparency Serbia, CRTA and CESID. The representatives of the proposers then presented their proposals.

The ensuing comprehensive debate, in which most of the members of the Working Group took part, focused on the proposals that addresses the priority recommendations of the ODIHR Final Report on the Observation of the parliamentary elections held on December 2023, viz: priority recommendation 4 related to the unified voter register, recommendation 6 related to the obligation to prevent intimidation and pressure on voters and recommendation 7 related to the REM’s independence and proactive activity.

After four hours, the meeting was adjourned, and scheduled to continue on Thursday, 9 May 2024, at 10 am.

The Working Group for the Improvement of the Electoral Process continued its second meeting in the National Assembly on 9 May 2024, starting at 10 am.

The meeting was chaired by Nemanja Nenadic, Working Group Chairman, and attended by Working Group members Ugljesa Mrdic, Ana Jakovljevic, Jelena Jerinic, Ana Krstic, Risto Kostov, Luka Pusic, Zagorka Aleksic, Pavle Dimitrijevic and Bojan Klacar, as well as substitute members Marko Milosevic, Zlata Jusufovic, Marina Mijatovic, Kristina Antic, Natasa Mihailovic Vacic, Aleksandar Stevanovic, Vladana Jarakovic and Robert Sepi.

In addition to the Working Group members and substitute members, at the invitation of the Working Group, the meeting was also attended by the Ministry of the Interior Assistant Secretary Milan Andric and representatives of the Agency for Preventing Corruption, Dusan Jelicic, Assistant Director in the Sector for the Oversight of Political Activities and Campaigns, and Jasmina Cirkovic, Acting Assistant Director in the Department for Conflict of Interest and Cumulation of Functions.

At the beginning, the chairman said that the representatives of the Ministry of Interior and the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption were invited to the meeting to help the members of the Working Group to resolve certain dilemmas regarding the Final Report on the Observation of the parliamentary elections held on December 2023 and concerning the Law on the Single Electoral Roll, Law on Prevention of Corruption and the Law on Financing Political Activities.

In the ensuing discussion, the representative of the Ministry of Interior answered numerous questions, as well as suggestions and recommendations, primarily related to the way that the Ministry acts on applications for temporary and permanent residence of citizens. Some members of the Working Group specifically emphasised the need to speed up and simplify the procedures of the Ministry of Interior following the requests from real estate owners to provide data on all persons who may have been registered as living at certain residences.

In the continuation, the members of the Working Group focused on the ODIHR Priority Recommendation No. 5, concerning the clear separation between the official functions and campaigning activities of the incumbents, as well as the importance of the proactive action of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption Authorities should take measures to prevent misuse of office and

The representatives of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption pointed out that certain provisions of the Law on the Prevention of Corruption have already been reformulated so that they are in line with the specific ODIHR recommendation, as well as that this recommendation does not apply exclusively to the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, but to all public authorities, and that a systemic approach is needed which requires time for the recommendation to be fully implemented. In the further course of the discussion, emphasis was placed on the way the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption acted on the submitted reports, and questions were asked regarding statistical data on the number of reports, misdemeanour proceedings initiated, measures imposed, and the like. Problems in the application of the provisions of the Law on General Administrative Procedure regarding deadlines for delivery were also discussed, in connection with which numerous examples from previous practice were presented.

After two hours, the meeting was adjourned and scheduled to continue on Friday, 10 May 2024, at 11 am.

The Working Group for the Improvement of the Electoral Process continued its second meeting in the National Assembly on 10 May 2024, starting at 10 am.

The meeting was chaired by Nemanja Nenadic, Working Group Chairman, and attended by Working Group members Ugljesa Mrdic, Jelena Jerinic, Risto Kostov, Luka Pusic, Zagorka Aleksic, Rejhan Kurtovic, Ahmedin Skrijelj, Pavle Dimitrijevic and Bojan Klacar, as well as substitute members Marko Milosevic, Marina Mijatovic, Dusan Dincic, Kristina Antic, Aleksandar Stevanovic, Vladana Jarakovic, Slađana Komatina and Robert Sepi.

In addition to the Working Group members and substitute members, at the invitation of the Working Group, the meeting was also attended by Dusan Jelicic, Assistant Director in the Sector for the Oversight of Political Activities and Campaigns of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption.

At the beginning, the Chair said that the representative of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption was invited to this continuation of the meeting of the Working Group as certain problematic solutions in the Law on Financing of Political Activities remained unconsidered during the previous session. He then briefly explained the proposals of Transparency Serbia regarding said Law in the light of fulfilling the ODIHR recommendation.

In the ensuing discussion, the Working Group discussed issues related to the institute of electoral guarantee, conditions under which participants in the election campaign can use publically owned premises, so-called third party campaigns, possibility of using advertising space during the election campaign, etc. Referring to their experience in the field, some members of the Working Group pointed to numerous cases of abuse related to the use of publically owned premises and/or use of advertising apce. This initiated a discussion on the subject of punitive measures at disposal of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption. For the most part, there was an argument about the expediency and effectiveness of the warning measure, that is, about its effects in the current practice of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption.

The Chairman then said that the discussion on the proposals was practically exhausted and invited all the members of the Working Group present to explain the proposals that were left unconsidered in the previous session. The representative of CRTA used the opportunity to further explain the proposal to urgently form a Commission for the revision of the voter list, which initiated a lively debate about the voter list, as well as the mechanisms of influence on voters and their suppression.

After two hours, the meeting was adjourned because the National Assembly session with the Bill modifying the Law on the Single Electoral Roll on its agenda was about to start, and the meeting was scheduled to continue on Monday, 13 May 2024, starting at 11:00 a.m.

The Working Group for the Improvement of the Electoral Process held its second meeting in the National Assembly on 13 May 2024, starting at 11 am.

The meeting was chaired by Nemanja Nenadic, and attended by Working Group members Ugljesa Mrdic, Jelena Jerinic, Filip Tatalovic, Ana Krstic, Risto Kostov, Luka Pusic, Zagorka Aleksic, Djordje Komlenski, Ahmedin Skrijelj, Pavle Dimitrijevic and Bojan Klacar, as well as substitute members Marko Milosevic, Zlata Jusufovic, Marina Mijatovic, Kristina Antic, Natasa Mihailovic Vacic, Aleksandar Stevanovic, Vladana Jarakovic and Robert Sepi.

At the beginning, the Chairman restated that, bearing in mind the fact that the Working Group is meeting for the fourth day in a row, the discussion on the received proposals has practically been exhausted and once again invited the proponents who did not have the opportunity to explain some of the proposals to speak up.

The proposal of the representative of CRTA to change the legal framework so that accredited observers are given the right to submit objections and requests for the annulment of voting at a given polling station resulted in a polemic in which the belief was expressed that such a proposal is completely contrary to the Constitution and other regulations that regulate the election procedure in the Republic of Serbia.

In the continuation of the discussion, the Chairman explained the proposal of Transparency Serbia to send a recommendation to the public prosecutor's offices for dealing with certain criminal acts against electoral law. He emphasised that in the described manner, two important ODIHR recommendations are addressed at the same time, which refer to the prevention of pressure on voters and the education of voters.

In his address, Working Group member MP Ugljesa Mrdic emphasised that he wants the minutes of the meeting to state that, at the session held on 10 May 2024, the National Assembly adopted the Law modifying the Law on the Single Electoral Roll, which entered into force the following day, pointing out that in this way the ruling coalition met the opposition's request. In his further presentation, he reminded that the Working Group makes decisions by a two-third majority and that it is necessary to specify all received proposals so that the Working Group can express its views on them. The Chairman agreed with this suggestion and the members of the Working Group went on to discuss how to systematize and shape the existing proposals in the best way. It was also discussed how much time is needed to systematize the proposals, in accordance with which different times were proposed for the continuation of the meeting, that is, for the vote.

Acknowledging the suggestions of a large number of members, the Chairman concluded the discussion on the first item on the agenda, postponed the vote and proposed to move on to the third item on the agenda which included a discussion on the expanded authority of the Working Group, after the Committee on Constitutional and Legislative Issues, at its session on 10 May 2024, decided that the members and their substitutes of the Working Group for the Improvement of the Electoral Process are authorized to monitor application of Article 2 of the Law modifying the Law on the Single Electoral Roll. Working Group member MP Jelena Jerinic proposed that the Working Group immediately write a letter to the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government asking how the Ministry intends to provide conditions for the implementation of the powers given to the members of the Working Group, which the Working Group accepted.

At the very end, the Chairman stated that he will make sure that the systematized proposals are delivered to all the members of the Working Group by the end of the day, so that voting can be started the next day.

After four hours, the meeting was adjourned and scheduled to continue on Tuesday, 14 May 2024, at 11 am.

The Working Group for the Improvement of the Electoral Process continued its second meeting in the National Assembly on 14 May 2024, starting at 11 am.

The meeting was chaired by Nemanja Nenadic, Working Group Chairman, and attended by Working Group members Ugljesa Mrdic, Filip Tatalovic, Ana Krstic, Risto Kostov, Luka Pusic, Zagorka Aleksic, Djordje Komlenski, Ahmedin Skrijelj and Pavle Dimitrijevic, as well as substitute members Marko Milosevic, Marina Mijatovic, Kristina Antic, Natasa Mihailovic Vacic, Vladana Jarakovic, Sladjana Komatina and Robert Sepi.

At the beginning, the Chairman reminded those present that the Working Group had adjourned its meeting the previous day with the agreement that it should now move on to the second item on the agenda, which is the vote. He added that all members and substitute members of the Working Group received proposals for acts systematized in the manner previously agreed upon, specifying that the largest number of proposals were submitted in the late evening hours and the remaining two proposals in the early morning hours. He announced that 24 proposals have been prepared and that the proposers themselves decide whether they want to vote on certain solutions in their proposals individually, article by article, or together, when the solutions are interconnected and conditional.

Working Group member MP Ugljesa Mrdic asked for the vote to be postponed with the explanation that he and his colleagues from the parliamentary majority, bearing in mind the volume of the submitted material, need time to carefully analyze all the proposals so that they can then express their opinion on them. This request caused a heated debate between the members of the Working Group because some were of the opinion that the submitted material was not new, but only systematized in a more transparent way, and that it had been available to the members of the Working Group since 7 May 2024, while others were of the opinion that an immediate vote on the proposals without a more detailed analysis and additional consultations will not be expedient and that the eventual acceptance of certain proposals by the Committee on Constitutional and Legislative Issues, i.e. the National Assembly plenary, can only be expected in the case of those proposals that the Working Group adopts by a two-third majority.

Since even after a long discussion there was no convergence of views, the Chairman reminded the attending that he had imposed such an intensive way of working, with practically daily meetings, so that the Working Group could submit specific proposals to the Committee on Constitutional and Legislative Issues by 15 May 2024, the adoption of which could have an impact on improving the conditions for the elections scheduled for 2 June 2024. He added that it was obvious that the deadline would not be met and that he was forced to adjourn the meeting until, in communication with the members of the Working Group who were delegated by the parliamentary groups that make up the parliamentary majority, the date for the vote was determined.

Working Group member MP Ugljesa Mrdic proposed that the Working Group continue its work and that the representatives of the state bodies to which certain proposals and recommendations relate are invited to come and answer the questions of the members of the Working Group, citing as a positive example the previous participation of the representatives Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Ministry of the Interior.

Some members of the Working Group then put forward a proposal to invite representatives of the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government to the meeting in connection with the expanded authority of the Working Group regarding inspection of the Single Electoral Roll. In the course of the discussion, a proposal was made to expand the composition of the Working Group so that each member will receive one more substitute due to the increased scope of activities.

The representative of CRTA insisted that the meeting be adjourned until a further work plan is determined, which would entail defining the date for the vote. In this sense, he proposed that the Working Group rule on his proposal that the members of the Working Group, who have been delegated by the parliamentary groups that make up the majority in the National Assembly, agree to to provide the Chairman with information on the further work plan by 11 am. the next day. The Working Group did not accept the proposal.

After four hours of work, the meeting was adjourned and the Chairman noted that the date for its continuation will be determined at a later date.

The Working Group for the Improvement of the Electoral Process held its second meeting in the National Assembly on 17 May 2024, starting at 11 am.

The meeting was chaired by Nemanja Nenadic, and attended by Working Group members Ana Jakovljevic, Jelena Jerinic, Filip Tatalovic, Ana Krstic, Luka Pusic, Ahmedin Skrijelj, Pavle Dimitrijevic and Bojan Klacar, as well as substitute members Aleksandar Stevanovic, Vladana Jarakovic and Robert Sepi.

At the beginning, the Chairman noted that the continuation of the meeting is attended by 10 members and substitute members of the Working Group, adding that pursuant to the National Assembly Rules of Procedure there is a quorum required for work, but not a quorum needed for decision-making, bearing in mind that paragraph 6 of the Decision on the Establishment of the Working Group for the Improvement of the Electoral Process stipulates that the Working Group makes decisions by a two-third majority of the total number of members, which means that decision-making requires the presence of a minimum of 12 members or substitute members. 

Explaining the reasons for scheduling the continuation of the Working Group’s second meeting for Friday, 17 May 2024, the Chairman reminded the attending of the Working Group’s goal and tasks, as well as the deadlines for the fulfilment of those tasks. He then informed the attending of his intention to send a memo to all the members and substitute members of the Working Group with a request for a statement on who will be able to take part in the work of the Working Group on Monday, 20 May 2024, that is, to vote on the proposals on the Agenda for the second meeting. He noted that he will schedule the continuation of the meeting only in the event that he receives the confirmation of at least two thirds of the members of the Working Group. He used the opportunity to ask the present members and substitute members if they could express themselves on the spot on the same issue and received verbal confirmation from all 10 members and substitute members present with the right to vote that they will take part in the vote on Monday, 20 May 2024, if the continuation of the second meeting is scheduled for that day. 

In the brief discussion that followed, the members of the Working Group analysed the newly created situation and gave suggestions on how to resolve it. Some of the members took the opportunity to ask questions about the agreed method of inspecting the electoral roll in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, in the context of the Working Group’s recently expanded authority. 

The Chairman informed the Working Group members that some of the proposals on which the Working Group should vote have in the meantime been submitted to certain state bodies with a request that those bodies submit to the Working Group their opinion on the proposed changes to the law that are within their purview. Also, some of the members of the Working Group were interested in the further dynamics of the work, not only of the Working Group but the Committee on Constitutional and Legislative Issues and the National Assembly as well, asking when the proposals the Working Group would eventually adopt could be found in the parliamentary procedure.

After one hours, the meeting was adjourned with the Chairman having previously informed the attending that they would be duly informed about the continuation of the meeting.