Grand Trnovic “holds hostage” the composition of Serbia's Parliament

The future composition of Serbia's Parliament depends on a small village south of this country. Nearly three months after parliamentary elections, the results are not yet known.

This, due to the repeat voting in the village of Trnovc the Great of Bujanoc, as a result of some irregularities. Residents there will again go to the polls on June 30th in the fifth attempt.

Their votes depend on whether representatives of the Albanian minority in Serbia will gain the only mandate in the Assembly. Votering rights at the Initiation School “Muharrem Kadriu” have 1,089 voters.

According to the general division of mandates, if the Albanian community's list wins a mandate, that mandate will then be removed from the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).

For this reason, Shaip Kamberi, who leads “The coalition of Albanians in the Valley”, accuses the SPS of trying to sabotage the vote.

On the other hand, Velko Odreovic, a member of the main SPS Commission, denies that his party has made efforts to ruin election day.

Bombs, provocations, and seizures of electors' lists

In the fourth consecutive vote on June 23rd, there were false bomb alarms at the polling station.

Kamberi says the elections have not begun that day because Serbia's “Socialist Party, prior to the opening of the polling centre, has made efforts to take control of the entire election process”.

According to him, the goal has been to have members of the electoral commission from the ranks of “Coalition of the Albanians of the Valley” present only as observers.

“We, as participants, have not been able to allow the launch of the [election] process”, says Kamberi for the Balkan Radio Free Europe Service.

Commissions at the polling stations are election administration organs, which direct the vote in a poll, while election process observers monitor the management of procedures on election day.

Kamberi says the SPS has sent a member of the election commission from Subotica in northern Serbia who, as this representative of the Albanian list claims, has provoked the commission's present members.

It is common for commission members to be people who know the terrain and people who can be understood. When someone comes from outside, with precise instructions about what to do, with hate words that this is a kingdom and you have nothing to ask for there, then it's clear that the goal is to provoke the” situation, Kamber says.

Odreovic, from the SPS, accuses representatives of Albanian parties of undermining elections and says the Socialists' proposal has been for the election process to be monitored by a member of the Albanian community and a Serb.

The Albanian side has taken the voter's lists and did not want to allow anyone to control them. We have witnessed an attempt to prevent the process and not allow its start of”, said Odreovic.

He adds that accusations that the SPS member has provoked Albanian representatives are not true.

The CRTA observer mission, which has had independent observers in Terovac the Great, says that, in addition to the false bomb alarm, members of the electoral commission have not been able to reconcile “for sharing of roles” before the vote.

Now what?

Pavlle Dimitrijevic, deputy director of the CRTA NGO programme, tells Radio Free Europe that the example of Grand Trnovci shows that the poor work of election commissions is one of the main problems in the election process in Serbia, and that CRTA has repeatedly demanded that this change.

“Voter centres can achieve poor elections, or not hold them at all, without any consequence or responsibility. The only result is that in the next reviews, the same persons cannot be members of the” election commission, Dimitrijevic says.

All Votes in Great Trnovic

For minority parties in Serbia, the 3% threshold is not valid. As a result, these parties could win mandates in Serbia's Parliament by fewer votes.

According to estimates cited most frequently, about 60,000 Albanians live in Serbia mostly in the municipalities of Presevo, Bujanoc and Medvedja, in southern Serbia.

In the early parliamentary elections in Serbia in June 2020, Albanian parties have been in a coalition and have won three parliamentary mandates. Two years later, they have decided to compete with two lists -- “The coalition of Albanians in the Valley”, led by Shaip Kamberi, and “Alternative for Change -- Albanian Democratic Alternative”, led by Shqirim Arifi.

In the first statements, following the 3 April elections, both election lists have said they have not passed the threshold and that Albanians will not have representatives in Serbia's new Assembly.

However, on 21 April, the Administrative Court in Nis has ordered the repeat elections in Ternovic the Great, due to irregularities. Here, then, the repeat series has started.

The elections have been repeated for the first time on April 28th. On this day, 697 out of a total of 1,089 eligible voters have voted, namely, turnout has been 64 percent.

The electoral list “The coalition of Albanians of the Valley” has won the most votes: 677. That would provide her with a mandate in Serbia's Parliament, as if these results were not disputed.

The request for repeat elections has been submitted by the representative of the Socialist Party of Serbia's Ivica Dacic list. After the SPS has complained that it has voted even a voter who has not had valid personal documents, the Republican Election Commission has ordered a new vote.

The elections in Ternovc the Great are held again on May 27th. That day, 618 out of 1,089 eligible voters have voted.

The results have been different from the previous time. The coalition of Albanians of the Valley” has won 598 votes this time. He has also needed 12 votes to pass the threshold and win the parliamentary mandate.

The coalition of Albanians in the Valley” has then rejected the vote, saying one is allowed to vote without identification.

The Republican Election Commission has rejected the complaint, but the Administrative Court has ordered a new vote.

Fighting for a Term

To enter Serbia's Assembly, “The coalition of Albanians in the Valley” needs 610 votes at the number six polling in the Grand Trnovc, provided the SPS does not get any votes, as this would increase the election threshold.

In that case, the Socialists would lose a mandate in the Assembly and have 31 deputies, while a mandate would meet the Albanian coalition.

I don't know why it's so important to the SPS because it has 31 mandates... Why now, when they don't have votes, does he try so hard to defeat him as an MP? It's unclear to me”, Kamber says.

Odreovic, on the other hand, says the SPS insists that the election process in Trnovic the Great is legally completed.

Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, has declared on June 20th that it is not fully clear what is happening with the elections in Ternovc the Great.