On the election day of December 17, around 12.30:XNUMX, with two colleagues from the Republic Election Commission, the coordinator of the RIK for Belgrade Vladimir Petrović and the member of the extended composition of the RIK Jovan Rajić, deputy, I gathered at the southern entrance to the Arena, at the moment when a bus and a van were parked in front of the entrance, from which dozens of adults got out and headed to the Arena. At the very entrance, even though we were among other people (who were moving towards that entrance from the bus), we were stopped by the Arena's private security. At the same time, all other people are allowed to enter, without identification or meeting any other conditions. In fact, the security prevented entry only to persons with visible signs of the Republic Electoral Commission.
Soon, in the immediate vicinity of the entrance, we saw the director of Stark Arena Goran Grbović who entered the hall, refusing to respond to loud calls from members of the RIK. Although the security was presented with the reason why the REC members are at the location and what circumstances they would like to investigate, it was clear that there is no will of the private security to allow them to do so. Paradoxically, they gave us contradictory information about what kind of event was being organized inside: a basketball game, a basketball tournament, a movie shoot, and the like. At the same time, none of the people who entered were asked for a ticket, and when asked which match they were entering, they could not answer.
Unable to enter the hall itself, we requested the intervention of the police. It is important to note here that this is a usual procedure - in case of any disorder or similar problems during the election, the members of the election commissions request the intervention of the Ministry of the Interior. In this regard, there is a clear practice confirmed in previous election processes. There was no police intervention.
Since the detention at the entrance lasted several tens of minutes, and the members of the RIK did not want to give up the entry, there was a change of persons in the security. Newly arrived members of the Arena's private security force physically ejected the RIK members from the entrance foyer at the south entrance and then locked both entrances with a heavy chain.
In parallel with this event, a dozen people stood in front of the entrance door, without any identification cards, clearly demonstrating that they will not allow any attempt to enter the Arena. Members of the MUP, two plainclothes officers sent from the New Belgrade Police Station, appeared in front of the entrance about 45 minutes after the first call. They were asked to allow REC members to enter the Arena in order to investigate whether there is an "artificial" polling station at that location or whether other illegal activities related to the election process are being carried out. Since they refused, we asked them to inform the competent public prosecutor's office about the suspicion that crimes against electoral rights are being committed inside the Arena. After several consultations, the police officers informed us that the police would not allow us to enter the Arena, after which my colleague Jovan Rajić went with members of the MUP to PS Novi Beograd where he gave a statement, about which there is an official note. In parallel with informing the police, we also informed the president of the REC. He told us on the phone that everything was fine. The Arena case was also covered by the media.
The reaction of the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic of Croatia
Prime Minister Ana Brnabić informed the public about the described event by tweet, and shortly after the first media announcements about the Arena, he announced himself announcement and RIK President Vladimir Dimitrijević. It is unclear how the Prime Minister could know that no irregularity was taking place in the Arena when neither the police nor the members of the election commission had conducted any investigation. It is especially unclear where the president got the information that "our citizens, registered in the voter list (which does not show any deviation from the previous elections)" are gathering in the Arena. Her statement already indicates that activities related to the elections took place in the Arena, and it is completely unclear why the REC representatives were prevented from clarifying those activities.
The announcement of the president of the REC is indicative in another sense. He states that there is no polling station in the Arena and adds that "we can conclude that all irregularities are determined by the electoral committee and then it is possible to cancel the vote and the like." These are possibilities established by law". It is unclear how any polling committee could clarify what is happening in the Arena if there is no polling station there. It would be logical for members of election commissions or police authorities to clarify suspicions of irregularities that occur outside the polling station, especially in a situation where members of the REC express suspicions of committing criminal acts against electoral rights.
Arena's case is certainly not an isolated one. The Coalition Serbia against Violence has learned of at least ten similar cases by the day of submission of objections and requests for annulment of elections at all polling stations, at all levels in Serbia. Social media was remade with footage of people gathering near polling stations. Unfortunately, there is apparently no one to investigate these cases. Immediate intervention by the police or the prosecutor's office is certainly in the domain of illusions.
Deleted space
Why is the Arena case within the jurisdiction of the election enforcement body? First, the practice of electoral authorities (and consequently judicial authorities), and as it unequivocally follows from the above-mentioned statement of the President of the Republic of Croatia, is that electoral commissions deal with the electoral process only in the context of what is happening at the polling stations, i.e. in the context of handing over voting materials before and after the election. There is not a single case in the recent electoral history of the Republic that the electoral authorities considered any case of electoral irregularities that took place outside the polling stations. This is a huge area that remains outside the action of electoral authorities and covers a whole range of disputed relationships and circumstances: collecting signatures of support for candidate electoral lists, the possibility that list holders are persons who are not candidates in the elections, compilation of the voter list, media coverage of the electoral process, public appearances of candidates and the like.
All this is left to the individual initiatives of interested parties. Such initiatives, unfortunately, like the Arena case itself, do not have a satisfactory "official" resolution.
Second, the competent authorities for criminal and misdemeanor prosecution, public prosecutor's offices and the police, do not undertake ex officio any investigations related to the violation of electoral rights, or it is a matter of a small number of cases that do not reach the public.
Thirdly, there is no public advertising of election commissions in the sense of clarifying voting rights to the general public. The REC's public announcements are not an expression of collective decision-making, there are no meetings to discuss how and with what content the public can be informed about any topic. These decisions are at the sole discretion of the President of the REC, who obviously decides to make a public statement when the electoral process is called into question and is ready to reduce his statements to a blanket assessment of the legality and correctness of the electoral process even when there is no fact-finding procedure on on which such a report would be based.
Fourth, there is no initiation of investigation procedures before the misdemeanor/criminal prosecution authorities, even in situations where the electoral authorities have a well-founded suspicion that some illegal behavior has been committed in relation to electoral rights.
Finally, and probably most importantly in the context of this election process, the Arena case points to a great abuse of voting by voters who do not live on the territory of Serbia, in the republican and local elections in Belgrade, and related to illegal interventions in the voter list. In her tweet, the Prime Minister indicated that it was voters who did not live in the territory of Belgrade who gathered near the Arena. Such an allegation raises doubts about the legality of the election process, since voters living abroad could exercise their right to vote in parliamentary elections where they live. Why do they come to Belgrade, cross a road that is probably longer than the road to the nearest consular department of the Republic of Serbia abroad and which involves crossing the state border? The only logical explanation for this irrational behavior, which implies a greater expenditure of time and money for the trip, is that these voters come to Belgrade to vote in local elections as well.
That this is the case, in addition to the Arena case, is also unequivocally indicated by the fact that the citizens of Belgrade signaled thousands of cases of invitations to vote to persons who do not live at the addresses to which these invitations arrived, popularly called "phantom voters".
Taking into account the total number of people who were spotted at the Arena alone (it is at least a few thousand, given that the buses were arriving all morning), the scale of the intervention in the voter list must be enormous. It seems quite reasonable to call such interventions "artificial migrations".
All that followed after the election day - the CRTA report, street protests, avoiding the RIK and other state authorities to investigate this matter - do not indicate that the resolution of the Arena case is on the horizon. And that is something that should seriously worry us.
The author is a lawyer and deputy member of the RIK in the permanent composition in front of the ZLF
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