Vučić fears the diaspora vote
The European Democratic Party (EDP) is denouncing the obstacles placed in the way of Serbian citizens voting abroad. On 6 October 2026, the party launched a social media campaign on what it describes as a deliberate attempt to make it harder for the diaspora to take part in the 25 October parliamentary elections.
Record mobilisation, too few polling stations
More than 100,000 Serbian citizens have registered to vote abroad, a record level of mobilisation. Yet the authorities have approved only 93 polling stations outside Serbia. More than 30 cities with over 100 registered voters each have been left without one.
The EDP carousel, titled “Vučić fears the diaspora vote”, points to cases including Vancouver, Geneva, Lugano, Bucharest, Bratislava, Sofia, Graz and Innsbruck, where registered voters have no local polling station.
Voting in the middle of the night
The campaign also highlights the huge distances some citizens will have to travel, particularly in Australia, and the decision to set voting hours abroad on Serbian time rather than local time. As a result, polling stations will open at 1 a.m. in Chicago and 2 a.m. in Washington and New York. In New Zealand, voting will take place between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m. local time.
The Serbian authorities reject the accusations of obstruction, arguing that the number of registered voters is not the only criterion for deciding where polling stations go. For the EDP, however, record diaspora mobilisation, missing polling stations and highly restrictive voting hours together cannot be dismissed as a technical issue.
Gozi: “Serbian citizens abroad are not second-class voters”
Sandro Gozi, Secretary General of the European Democratic Party and Member of the European Parliament, said:
“Vučić is afraid of votes he cannot control. When more than 100,000 citizens abroad mobilise to participate in their country's democracy, the answer of a democratic government should be to make voting easier. Instead, dozens of cities are left without polling stations, people are asked to travel enormous distances and others are expected to vote in the middle of the night.
This is not simply bad organisation. It is deliberate political obstruction. Serbian citizens living abroad are not second-class voters and their democratic rights do not become less important when they cross the Serbian border.
A government confident in the support of its citizens does not put barriers between them and the ballot box. Vučić does. Serbia deserves free, fair and genuinely accessible elections, and Europe must pay close attention to what is happening ahead of 25 October.”
A call to the Electoral Commission
The EDP calls on the Serbian authorities and the Republic Electoral Commission to take immediate action so that Serbian citizens abroad have a real and equal opportunity to exercise their right to vote.
For the European Democrats, the vote of the diaspora is a test of Serbia's democratic credibility and of its European path. Free and accessible elections are not a favour that a government grants. They are a right owed to every citizen, wherever they live.
