Serb Voters Abroad Face Long Trips in Tight Election After Officials Move Polling Stations
Organizers in more than 30 cities are arranging rides and housing as voters travel thousands of kilometers to reach one of 93 polling stations abroad.
- With limited polling stations available abroad for Sunday's election, Serbians are forming grassroots networks to arrange long-distance travel and accommodation. The Serbian Electoral Commission approved only 93 sites globally.
- Critics allege the government deliberately restricted polling locations to suppress turnout among expatriates, who are viewed as less supportive of populist leader Aleksandar Vucic. The ruling Serbian Progressive Party faces its biggest electoral challenge from a student-led movement.
- Volunteers launched VoteBnB, matching hundreds of requests with 1,300 accommodation and 750 ride-share offers. Voters in Canada face 3,500-kilometre journeys from Vancouver to Toronto, while Australians are organizing 900-kilometre trips from Brisbane to Sydney.
- Many voters face grueling middle-of-the-night polling times to align with Serbian time zones. Irina Djordjic, a Serbian citizen in Canada, said, "Some people have small children, some can't be absent for too long."
- Tens of thousands of overseas ballots could influence the tight race, as participants describe their efforts as supporting the student movement. This reflects broader efforts to reverse Serbia's democratic backsliding under Vucic in the Balkan nation.
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Serb voters abroad face long trips in tight election after officials move polling stations – WTOP News
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — When Irina Djordjic registered in Canada to vote in an election this weekend in her native Serbia, she expected a repeat of the 2023 poll: a short drive to the consulate in Vancouver for a relaxed Sunday afternoon voting with fellow Serbs. She was wrong. Djordjic, who holds dual Canadian-Serbian citizenship,...
Flying about 4.5 hours to a polling station: it is not made easy for Serbs worldwide. Yet more people than ever have registered...
The Serbian diaspora from North America connects people who will travel hundreds of kilometers and hosts in whose homes they will spend the night, so that they can vote.
Serbia's election commission is under fire for moving polling stations abroad ahead of the upcoming snap parliamentary elections. The move is forcing Serbs living far abroad to travel thousands of kilometers or vote in the middle of the night, the AP reports. For example, Serbs in Vancouver on...
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