Serbia

This report provides a brief assessment of the election legislation governing the forthcoming local and federal elections in Serbia and the FRY. It seeks to identify conflicts between the content of the legislation and best practice, appropriate international standards and OSCE commitments. It focuses on those particular areas of the legislation which may raise the risk of fraud or malpractice. The laws reviewed are those relating to presidential elections, elections of deputies to the Chamber of Citizens (the lower chamber of the federal parliament), elections of deputies to the Chamber of Republics (the upper chamber in the federal parliament) and elections of members of municipal assemblies in Serbia. The presidential election law was adopted on 24 July 2000 following amendments to the Constitution which allow for the direct election of the federal president. The president was previously elected by parliament, the Federal Assembly. The review of the Law on elections to the lower chamber takes into account the amendments introduced into that Law in July 2000.