RIK orders repeat voting at 53 polling stations in Serbia on November 1

The Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) decided that early parliamentary voting in Serbia will be repeated on Sunday, 1 November at 53 polling stations across the country.

RIK said the repeat ballots are needed because at 31 polling stations the results could not be established, and at another 22 polling stations voting held on 25 October was annulled. The commission also set the number of ballot papers to be printed for the rerun at 24,438.

Preliminary counts and likely impact

Preliminary tallies published after the 25 October vote show the Student List holding a clear lead over the list led by Aleksandar Vučić. Multiple early counts put the Students' movement ahead by a margin that election officials and analysts say the small number of voters at the 53 polling stations is unlikely to overturn.

According to the figures circulated in the initial reports, the Students' list received the larger share of votes nationwide while the SNS-led list headed by former president Aleksandar Vučić trailed in second place; minority lists are the only other lists projected to enter parliament under separate counting rules. The repeated voting is therefore expected to leave the overall ranking of the winner and runner-up unchanged.

Localities mentioned by election authorities as sites with unresolved or annulled polling include municipalities such as Aleksinac, Bačka Topola, Bojnik, Vladicin Han, Inđija, Koceljevo, Kula, Kuršumlija, Majdanpek, Ćuprija, Subotica and Šid, among others. Polling stations where voting was annulled include locations in Zemun, Kruševac, Loznica, Novi Pazar, Pirot and several other towns.

The repeat polling will take place in the standard hours, and RIK said it adopted the decisions at a session chaired by its president Vladimir Dimitrijević. Election authorities and monitoring groups will follow the rerun to ensure procedures are observed.

Photo: EPA/ANDREJ CUKIC