Home > 2.3 Observation > SERBIA - Joint opinion on the constitutional and legal framework governing the functioning of democratic institutions - Electoral law and electoral administration
 
 
 
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Paragraph 21
 

Furthermore, the Venice Commission and ODIHR recommend:
A. Considering a consolidation of the election-related legislation, with common general rules and exceptions where required by the specificities of each type of election, eliminating unnecessary repetitions of norms while identifying and eliminating legal gaps and inconsistencies.
B. Deleting from the Constitution the notion of “working ability” as a condition for suffrage rights; removing the restrictions on suffrage rights based on intellectual and psychosocial disabilities.
C. Harmonising the laws on the Unified Voter Register and on Personal Data Protection, which should detail the scope of personal data of voters made public, and the secure and lawful access to these data; considering the establishment of a mechanism for independent external monitoring of the registration of voters, by the Republic Electoral Commission or an impartial ad hoc body with a clear mandate; considering the conduct of an independent audit of the Unified Voter Register; notifying any removal from the voters’ lists to the concerned persons;
D. Ensuring proper training of local electoral commissions (LECs) and polling boards (PBs).
E. Requiring the publication of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption campaign observers’ reports.
F. Providing for more objective and clear criteria to grant national minority status to electoral lists.
G. Adapting the legislation and taking further steps to ensure the proper implementation of the law so that the requirement to repeat voting in individual polling stations does not block the proclamation of the final results and the establishment of the next convocation of the parliament. This could be achieved by reviewing provisions related to when and if the repeat voting takes place, holding all repeated elections simultaneously and only in case they impact election results, setting uniform deadlines for establishing results, and strengthening the mechanisms to prevent significant violations of the process of voting, including of repeat voting (avoid repeating more than once).