ANEM and NUNS: Municipal election commissions should allow journalists to monitor their work.
The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), together with the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), calls on municipal electoral commissions (OIK) to enable independent media and all media workers to report on the work of the commissions and the electoral process. ANEM and NUNS remind that, according to the applicable law, municipal electoral commissions (OIK) are obligated to ensure that their sessions are public and transparent, without discrimination against reporters and the media they represent. However, to enter and observe the work at polling stations, it is necessary to obtain permission from the electoral board, and journalists are not allowed to violate the secrecy of voting, record voter lists, or photograph citizens behind the voting screens.
The Republic Electoral Commission (REC) has not yet issued any additional instructions for monitoring the work of municipal electoral commissions.
NUNS and ANEM warn that the Electoral Commission of the Municipality of Majdanpek has not made a decision on the request for the accreditation of journalist and editor of the “Majdanpek Info” portal, Martin Bežinarević, for over two weeks, even though electoral activities are already underway. We consider the practice of delaying and denying the public access to information about the work of the electoral commission to be unacceptable. We call on the Municipal Electoral Commission of Majdanpek to approve the request without further delay and allow the journalist to monitor the Commission's work during the electoral process.
The prolonged delay does not contribute to a transparent and democratic electoral process, and administrative procedures must not be used as a means to restrict the work of journalists and the informing of the public. NUNS and ANEM remind that the Rules of Procedure of the Electoral Commission of the Municipality of Majdanpek explicitly stipulate in Article 18 that the public's access to the Commission's work is ensured, among other things, by the presence of accredited journalists.
"Instead of a timely response, during this period, I was directed back and forth between the Municipal Electoral Commission of Majdanpek and the Republic Electoral Commission. After I contacted the REC, I was informed that this matter falls under the jurisdiction of the local electoral commission. However, the Municipal Electoral Commission of Majdanpek then insisted again that it was not responsible for issuing accreditation. After I informed them that I would report this case to the Commissioner, journalistic associations, and the REC, I was told that the request would be decided 'at the next session,' without any information on when that would take place.
They did not specify a particular legal provision that stipulates that the accreditation of journalists must be decided by a vote of the entire Commission. If decisions were made at each session about which media could attend and which could not, it would open the door for deciding and categorizing media into favorable and unfavorable. Recently, during the local elections, there were no problems, and now when I inquired again, I received a different response. I do not understand this change in practice over just a few months," emphasizes Bežinarević in an interview with ANEM.
NUNS and ANEM call for uniform interpretation of the laws and regulations under which the work of republic and municipal bodies must be transparent and public, including the work of municipal electoral commissions.
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