The meeting was chaired by Nemanja Nenadic, chairman of the Working Group, and attended by Working Group members Ugljesa Mrdic, Filip Tatalovic, Risto Kostov, Luka Pusic, Zagorka Aleksic, Djordje Komlenski and Rejhan Kurtovic, as well as substitute members Marko Milosevic, Marina Mijatovic, Kristina Antic, Natasa Mihailovic Vacic, Aleksandar Stevanovic and Sladjana Komatina.

The meeting was also attended by National Assembly Secretary General, Mr Srdjan Smiljanic and associates.

The meeting had the following agenda:

1.Briefing the members of the Working Group with the Decision amending and modifying the Decision on the formation of the Working Group for the Improvement of the Electoral Process;

2.Discussion of the members of the Working Group regarding future activities aimed at improving the electoral process.

Within the first item of the agenda, the Chairman reminded the members of the Working Group that after the interruption of the Second Meeting, on 21 May 2024, he submitted Information on the Working Group’s activity to the Committee on Constitutional and Legislative Issues. The reason for it was the expiration of the deadline for the execution of the Working Group’s first task, that is, the formulation of proposals of legal and other solutions that could have an impact on the election held on 2 June 2024. The Chairman reminded the attending that in the Information he had listed his proposals regarding the further work of the Working Group. He noted that the Committee did not discuss this information, but that a meeting with the National Assembly Speaker, Ms Ana Brnabic. At the meeting, an agreement was reached that the Decision on the formation of the Working Group for the Improvement of the Electoral Process should be amended in terms of three key segments:

•changing the decision-making in the Working Group in relation to proposals for the implementation of ODIHR recommendations, in order to avoid the blocking of that process by members who are not ready to support any proposal for solving problems in a given area, i.e. the situation that arose during the Second Meeting of the Working Group, in May 2024;

•the possibility of forming thematic subgroups within the Working Group, whose task would be to harmonise proposals concerning one law or one area (such as, for example, public information and the media, single voter list, financing of political activities, etc.), whereby they would work directly with the representatives of competent state bodies, and to offer the Working Group solutions that would go in the direction of fulfilling the ODIHR recommendations that address said areas;

•revision of the deadline in which the Working Group should carry out its task and submit to the National Assembly proposals for changes to the relevant laws in order to fulfil the ODIHR recommendations, both earlier and those expected in the final report after the local elections, held on June 2, 2024. The deadline, set by the new decision, in which the National Assembly should adopt the changes to these laws is 1 July 2025, which means that the Working Group should submit its proposals much earlier.

The Chairman described the new solutions in the Decision, as well as the way in which they could be applied in various situations (e.g. when there is only one proposal to improve a certain norm of the law, when there are more proposals, when there is full agreement within subgroups or when there is none, etc.)

In the ensuing discussion, conflicting opinions were heard in terms of the way in which point 6, which governs decision-making at Working Group meetings, as well as within thematic subgroups, was changed, since some of the members considered that the norms were not clear enough nor adequate.

The National Assembly Secretary General then reminded the attending of the main goal the Working Group was formed for and that at the meeting of the National Assembly Collegium clear will was expressed to start implementing the ODIHR recommendations. He emphasised that all the members of the Working Group should take an active part in its work and that the basic idea is to come up with a proposal for solving certain open issues, including a solution concerning the decision-making process. In his further presentation, he spoke of the reasons for the formation of thematic subgroups and informed the attending that future Working Group meetings will be attended not only by him and his associates, but by the secretaries of relevant parliamentary committees, advisers to the National Assembly Speaker, representatives of ministries and other bodies whose scope individual recommendations of the ODIHR refer to, as well, all with the aim of providing professional support to the Working Group’s activities.

As part of the second item on the agenda, the attending discussed the dynamics of the Working Group’s activities in the coming period and on that occasion a proposal was heard that the area that will have priority in the consideration and decision-making should be defined, with several members emphasising the need for legal regulation of the way of which the Single Voters Register would be audited. It was also mentioned that the Working Group should once again consider the proposals that were discussed during the previous meetings, since the Working Group did not vote on them.

At the very end, it was agreed that the members of the Working Group should identify laws and other regulations as soon as possible, which, in their opinion, should be amended in order to fulfil each of the ODIHR recommendations, which will be the basis for the eventual formation of thematic subgroups. Members who did not do so in the previous deadline (by 7 May 2024) are invited to submit their priority proposals for amendments to the law within seven days and those who have already submitted proposals to update them if necessary.

After more than two hours of work, as the agenda was exhausted and the Chairman concluded the Third Meeting of the Working Group for the Improvement of the Electoral Process.