The Republic Electoral Commission (REC) adopted a decision at yesterday’s session on the use of voting booths. The decision came as a result of a proposal by the Commission’s president, although a cynical observer might say that perhaps the idea was not actually his, based on how many times he repeated, during the session, that the voting screens used until now provided a sufficient guarantee of ballot secrecy. On the same day the decision was adopted, the REC allocated funds for voting booths with a total value of around €6 million. That is roughly what it would cost to build a school or a hospital, and there is little need to elaborate on the disastrous condition of many such facilities across the country and their need for renovation.
Over the past seven days, we have heard several false claims about the alleged necessity of introducing a voting-booth system. For the sake of citizens and the public, as well as given the possible impact this system could have on election results, we have a duty to set the record straight.
“ODIHR requested new voting screens at polling stations”
The season of falsehoods was opened by none other than President Aleksandar Vučić, saying that “it would be better for us not to do this, but ODIHR requested it.” This is not the first time that international actors have been blamed for the further deterioration of Serbia’s electoral conditions.
The facts tell a different story. In its latest report following the 2023 parliamentary elections, ODIHR Recommendation 23 calls for adequate premises for polling stations to be ensured in order to prevent overcrowding, safeguard the secrecy of the vote, and provide easy and independent access for voters with disabilities. Following the local elections held in June 2024, ODIHR Recommendation 28 calls for improvements to polling-station layouts and to the design and positioning of voting screens in order to strengthen ballot secrecy.
So, there is not a single word about enclosing voters inside booths. The report in question, which consists not only of recommendations but also of a descriptive section, repeatedly identifies the main problems in ensuring ballot secrecy as the improper positioning of voting screens (in the most recent elections, ODIHR found that screens were incorrectly positioned at 20 percent of polling stations), family voting, group voting, photographing ballot papers, and the aforementioned overcrowding at polling stations.
It is perfectly clear that these problems could be addressed by eliminating pressure on voters and complying with other REC regulations concerning the minimum size of polling stations (30 m² for polling stations with up to 1000 voters and at least 50 m² for those with more than 1000 voters). This would provide enough space for all participants in the electoral process to take their designated positions while remaining sufficiently far away from voters casting their ballots behind the screens. The president of the REC, who proposed the decision, was unable to tell us anything about the size of the premises currently being used, even though we know that they do not comply with regulations adopted by the REC itself.
“Packing” voters into booths will prevent polling boards from detecting widespread abuses of voting rights, such as “Bulgarian train” or chain-voting schemes, photographing ballots, and the destruction of election materials.
“A voting screen can be booth-shaped”
The problem with voting booths is not merely practical, it is also a matter of law. The Law on the Election of Members of Parliament explicitly stipulates that a voter casts their ballot behind a voting screen. No fewer than six articles of the Law (42, 43, 52, 93, 94 and 95) regulate the use and positioning of voting screens and the protection of ballot secrecy, including by instructing voters about the secrecy of the vote. The Republic Electoral Commission may prescribe only the shape and dimensions of the voting screen (Article 52 of the Law), but it may not replace the screen with a booth.
This brings us to the remarkable linguistic construction used in the reasoning behind yesterday’s decision: that what is being introduced is supposedly a voting screen in the shape of a booth.
As one colleague and REC member aptly observed, why stop there? A voting screen could just as well be shaped like a rocket or a circus, the latter being something we have already become rather accustomed to.
Returning to legal seriousness, the Comprehensive Dictionary of Foreign Words and Expressions clearly defines a screen and a booth as two distinct concepts: a screen is defined as a partition that shields something from view, while a booth is a small enclosed space1. The distinction between the two concepts is therefore clear: the former serves to shield a person from view, while the latter is an enclosed space.
There can be little doubt that the REC has permitted voting to take place in an enclosed space, thereby exceeding the limits established by law.
We will not seriously address Ana Brnabić’s argument that voting booths are also used in other developed European countries, since those are countries that do not face the same problems with voter intimidation, vote buying, and other electoral manipulation that have become a trademark of elections in Serbia.
All in all, the ruling party will spend the equivalent cost of a school or a hospital in public funds in order to conceal part of the theft of our votes. We will buy 30,000 electoral confessionals – places where people go to confess their loyalty to the ruling party. Voters should remember this, and they should be angry about it. Not only because it is exceptionally harmful in itself, but because it signals an electoral process that is already irregular, even before it has formally begun.
Translated by Marijana Simić
Peščanik.net, 28.08.2026.
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- Screen – a movable, freestanding partition that shields something from view, consisting of one or more sections and capable of being folded; a movable partition, screen, folding screen. Booth – a small enclosed space used for various purposes; a changing booth at a bathing area or beach (Klajn and Šipka, Comprehensive Dictionary of Foreign Words and Expressions).
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