Brnabic: Electoral laws aligned with ODIHR recommendations to be passed by end-May

BELGRADE - Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic said on Wednesday she expected amendments to four laws related to ODIHR recommendations for improving electoral conditions to be passed by the end of May and added that amendments to the law on preventing corruption were due to be sent to the ODIHR for review.

In an appearance on Pink TV, Brnabic announced that, during the Labour Day holidays, public debates would be held in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis and Kragujevac on amendments to the laws on local elections, the election of MPs and the Constitutional Court, as well as on amending one article of the law on the election of the president of the Republic.

After that, the laws will be ready for a debate in the parliament, Brnabic said.

"I expect that we will pass the amendments to the four laws by the end of May. Since March 13, we have also been waiting for an ODIHR response to the proposed amendments to the law on financing political activities. That is also an important law that puts a limit to spending during campaigning," Brnabic said.

She added that she would meet with teams of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of European Integration and the parliament later in the day to discuss amendments to the law on preventing corruption and that she expected it to be sent to the ODIHR for review in the coming days.

"That way, we have practically implemented all ODIHR recommendations, except for those that technically have to do with voting by persons with disabilities, but we will be resolving that simultaneously," she said.

She added that a commission tasked with analysing and reviewing the electoral roll was doing its job and would receive additional data that would enable it to compare different registers.

"I think that we will implement five more recommendations within the next four weeks, plus another one if we receive a positive opinion on the law on financing political activities. That work is going well," Brnabic noted.

She said intensive work on implementing ODIHR recommendations had been underway since 2019 and that the electoral conditions were being improved continuously.