Presidential election is now ahead for citizens of Serbia: Voting must be scheduled by this deadline

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Following early parliamentary elections, voting to elect the new president of the Republic of Serbia is also expected soon. Although Ana Brnabic, the president of the National Assembly who is now also acting president of the Republic, has not yet called the presidential election, it must be held no later than December 27, since former President Aleksandar Vucic resigned on September 27.

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Under the law, the period between the calling of the election and election day must be no shorter than 30 days and no longer than 60 days.

According to the law, presidential elections must be called at least 30 days before election day, which in this case means the final deadline is November 27.

The election is administered by the bodies also responsible for conducting elections for the National Assembly: the Republic Electoral Commission, local electoral commissions, and polling station committees.

The order of candidates on the ballot paper is determined by a draw held at a session of the Republic Electoral Commission, attended by representatives of those nominating the candidates.

Election day must be a non-working day. Any adult citizen of the Republic of Serbia who has not had parental rights extended over them and/or who has not been completely deprived of legal capacity has the right to vote for, and stand in the presidential election.

Candidates are nominated by submitting a nomination directly to the Republic Electoral Commission, in both written and electronic form. The nomination must be submitted no later than 20 days before election day.

Along with the nomination, each nominating party must submit at least 10,000 signatures supporting the proposed candidate. These must be collected using a form issued by the Republic Electoral Commission, and notarized before the nomination deadline expires.

Djordjevic: Final results in about 10 days

Although the final results of the early parliamentary elections are still pending, preliminary data from the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) indicates that the student-backed list could win 140 seats in the National Assembly, while the "Aleksandar Vucic - United Serbia" list would have 104 parliamentary seats. Four minority lists would win a combined total of six seats, which would allow the Student List to form a government on its own.

Constitutional law expert Miroslav Djordjevic told Euronews Serbia that, despite the political electoral process being effectively complete, all legally prescribed requirements must still be met for the election results to be formally recognized through the appropriate institutions.

The final results could be known in about 10 days.

According to Djordjevic, the announcement of the final results could be affected by any objections, appeals to the Administrative Court, and the possibility of repeated voting at individual polling stations if serious irregularities are established.

"In the best case scenario, the process could be completed in around 10 to 15 days. It's possible that this could get somewhat extended," Djordjevic said, noting that the electoral process involves a series of statutory deadlines for ruling on objections and appeals.

He assessed that election day on October 25 and the political transition proceeded peacefully, which he said was significant for the development of democratic culture in Serbia. Djordjevic added that, based on developments so far, he does not expect any systemic obstruction of the completion of the electoral process.

(Telegraf.rs/Euronews.rs)