The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe observed the local elections in Serbia and the assembly elections in its autonomous province of Vojvodina on Sunday 11 May. The Congress delegation was headed by Mr Paolo Rondelli (San Marino, SOC). It included three members of the European Union’s Committee of the Regions. As a part of the cooperation between the two institutions, the Committee of the Regions regularly participates in election observation at the local and regional level.

Prior to election day, the delegation met with the Mayor of Belgrade, Zoran Alimpic, the President of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, Zeljko Ozegovic, the President of the Electoral Commission Sonja Brkic, as well as candidates standing for election, the media and NGOs monitoring the election campaign.

This observation was carried out as part of a larger Council of Europe election observation action, which also includes the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, for the parliamentary elections that take place at the same time.

Conclusions of the Observation Mission

Subdued second round of Vojvodina Assembly elections confirms that regional government needs more autonomy (more...)

Local and provincial elections largely in line with international standards but Serbia needs identifiable local leadership 12.05.2008 – The provincial elections in Vojvodina and the local elections throughout Serbia , held on 11 May, were in line with international election standards, according to the observers of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. “Election Day was generally marked by a calm voting environment and the absence of significant irregularities, but people need to know for which candidate they are actually voting” said Paolo Rondelli ( Soc , San Marino ), the Head of the Congress observation team. The Congress observers concluded that the Law on Local Elections should be improved, to be in line with the European Charter for Local Self-Government. The delegation also reiterated that parliamentary elections should be organised separately from local and provincial elections. Press release

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Members of the ddelegation to observe the second round in the Vojvodina Province Members of the delegation Previous Congress electoral observation missions

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