Form over Substance: Possibilities to Prove Electoral Irregularities under Serbian Law

The article analyses Serbian legislation and case law applicable to electoral disputes, in particular those relevant to the determination of facts in these disputes, and the potential influence of procedural rules on the efficiency of protection of constitutionally guaranteed electoral rights. Besi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jelena Jerinić
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani) 2020-11-01
Series:Central European Public Administration Review
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uni-lj.si/CEPAR/article/view/20575
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832591496988065792
author Jelena Jerinić
author_facet Jelena Jerinić
author_sort Jelena Jerinić
collection DOAJ
description The article analyses Serbian legislation and case law applicable to electoral disputes, in particular those relevant to the determination of facts in these disputes, and the potential influence of procedural rules on the efficiency of protection of constitutionally guaranteed electoral rights. Besides Serbian legislation and case law, the analysis leans on the relevant European standards, including the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The results show that in practice, electoral commissions and courts use a limited circle of means of evidence and that the evidence submitted by complainants is not evaluated in the same way as the one coming from electoral boards. Although the application of general rules on administrative disputes is explicitly envisaged in electoral laws, the Administrative Court usually defers to the decisions and reasoning of electoral commissions, without supplementing the facts within court procedure, and relatively rarely or selectively decides in full jurisdiction. The author suggests amendments to the relevant legislation, aiming at a more explicit inclination towards the relevant procedural norms or, possibly, special regulation of evidencing in electoral legislation. In her view, a more explicit direction towards the application of the rules of general administrative procedure, in particular rules on evidencing, would lead to their more consistent application in practice.
format Article
id doaj-art-2206676dffb14df6a9df8808b48119b3
institution Kabale University
issn 2591-2240
2591-2259
language English
publishDate 2020-11-01
publisher University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)
record_format Article
series Central European Public Administration Review
spelling doaj-art-2206676dffb14df6a9df8808b48119b32025-01-22T10:50:31ZengUniversity of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)Central European Public Administration Review2591-22402591-22592020-11-0118210.17573/cepar.2020.2.05Form over Substance: Possibilities to Prove Electoral Irregularities under Serbian LawJelena Jerinić0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3216-3635Union University Law School, Belgrade, Serbia The article analyses Serbian legislation and case law applicable to electoral disputes, in particular those relevant to the determination of facts in these disputes, and the potential influence of procedural rules on the efficiency of protection of constitutionally guaranteed electoral rights. Besides Serbian legislation and case law, the analysis leans on the relevant European standards, including the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The results show that in practice, electoral commissions and courts use a limited circle of means of evidence and that the evidence submitted by complainants is not evaluated in the same way as the one coming from electoral boards. Although the application of general rules on administrative disputes is explicitly envisaged in electoral laws, the Administrative Court usually defers to the decisions and reasoning of electoral commissions, without supplementing the facts within court procedure, and relatively rarely or selectively decides in full jurisdiction. The author suggests amendments to the relevant legislation, aiming at a more explicit inclination towards the relevant procedural norms or, possibly, special regulation of evidencing in electoral legislation. In her view, a more explicit direction towards the application of the rules of general administrative procedure, in particular rules on evidencing, would lead to their more consistent application in practice. https://journals.uni-lj.si/CEPAR/article/view/20575Administrative Court, administrative procedure, elections, electoral rights, evidence, Serbia
spellingShingle Jelena Jerinić
Form over Substance: Possibilities to Prove Electoral Irregularities under Serbian Law
Central European Public Administration Review
Administrative Court, administrative procedure, elections, electoral rights, evidence, Serbia
title Form over Substance: Possibilities to Prove Electoral Irregularities under Serbian Law
title_full Form over Substance: Possibilities to Prove Electoral Irregularities under Serbian Law
title_fullStr Form over Substance: Possibilities to Prove Electoral Irregularities under Serbian Law
title_full_unstemmed Form over Substance: Possibilities to Prove Electoral Irregularities under Serbian Law
title_short Form over Substance: Possibilities to Prove Electoral Irregularities under Serbian Law
title_sort form over substance possibilities to prove electoral irregularities under serbian law
topic Administrative Court, administrative procedure, elections, electoral rights, evidence, Serbia
url https://journals.uni-lj.si/CEPAR/article/view/20575
work_keys_str_mv AT jelenajerinic formoversubstancepossibilitiestoproveelectoralirregularitiesunderserbianlaw