On the 13th of September the Federal Justice Ministry verbally warned members of CeSID (Centre for Free Elections and Democracy, Centar za Slobodne Izbore i Demokratiju in Serbian) that it was considering cancelling the legal registration of this non-governmental organisation, because of “violations of its mandate.” CeSID is led to conclude that its mistake was to publish the results of local elections in Serbia in 1996, that is to say, to make evident the drastic electoral fraud of past state and local elections. It is almost certain that citizens’ and CeSID volunteers’ electoral monitoring rights will be limited again this year, contrary to the current procedure in the Philippines, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Slovakia, Romania and Croatia etc. The right of citizens to monitor the regularity of elections in their own country was declared in 1990 with the so-called Copenhagen Document of the second Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE – now succeeded by the OSCE) which was attended by a delegation from the then-Yugoslavia.
Why are the rulers of today’s Yugoslavia so nervous about domestic monitors, yet at the same time have faith in their chosen foreign friends?
Whose elections are these, anyway?
