On Monday 22 June Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Olivér Várhelyi, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, noted with regret the imbalance between the parties in the Serbia’s parliamentary elections the previous day.
The ruling SNS party won 63% of the vote ahead of the Socialist Party (11%), while several opposition parties boycotted the poll. Turnout reported at only 49%.
In a statement, the High Representative and the Commissioner said that “while candidates were able to campaign and fundamental freedoms were respected, voter choice was limited by the governing party’s overwhelming advantage and the promotion of government policies by most major media outlets”, citing preliminary findings by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Borrell and Várhelyi believe that all of the politicians and institutions involved should engage in a “transparent, decisive and inclusive” dialogue on implementing future ODIHR recommendations in order to address long-standing electoral shortcomings “well in advance of the next elections”.
They added that there needs to be genuine dialogue between all of the political parties in order to make effective progress with reforms regarding the rule of law and the fight against organised crime and corruption, and the new Parliament needs to continue the inter-party dialogue led by the European Parliament, “with a view to reaching a broad consensus on EU-related reforms”.
The MEPs Tanja Fajon (S&D, Slovenia) and Vladimir Bilčík (EPP, Slovakia) noted the boycott carried out by a number of parties with regret, and warned that “the lowest turnout since 2000 and the dramatic change in the political landscape in the composition of the new Parliament, where a two-thirds majority will be held by one political list, will present the future Serbian Government an important challenge”. They believe that the absence of pro-European parties in the opposition bloc in Parliament should not jeopardise Serbia's aspirations for membership of the EU. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)