Serbian communists file lawsuit against election commission

The New Communist Party of Yugoslavia (NKPJ) and the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (SKOJ) have accused the election commission of discrimination after it rejected their registration for the parliamentary elections scheduled on June 21

June 12, 2020 by Peoples Dispatch
Serbia Elections
NKPJ-SKOJ proposed an electoral list, "Socialism is the only way out”, for the 2020 parliamentary elections.

The New Communist Party of Yugoslavia (NKPJ) and the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (SKOJ) filed a lawsuit against the Serbian Central Election Commission (RIK) at the Administrative Court on June 11, Thursday. The communist groups went to court after the RIK refused to give registration to the communist electoral list, “Socialism is the only way out” , for the parliamentary elections scheduled on June 21.

The petition claims that the RIK has not allowed sufficient time to the communist list headed by Aleksandar Đenić and Aleksandar Banjanac to redress any shortcomings in order to qualify for contesting the elections. At the same time, the RIK reportedly overturned its own decision a day after refusing registration to the right-wing group, Levijatan Movement. The RIK had earlier ruled that the group did not qualify for registration to the elections as it had failed to submit the required number of signatures in support of its candidates.

The NKPJ secretariat stated “our list filed a lawsuit because the defendant did not act with the complaint in accordance with the regulations, and the delivery was not made in the manner described in the decision. The NKPJ and SKOJ note that it is clear that the REC discriminated against the Communists during these elections, which shows that everyone could participate in these elections except our list.”

Representatives of the NKPJ-SKOJ handed over the collected signatures for the list “Socialism is the only way out” to the RIK on June 5.