"Serbia's democratic development at lowest level since 2005"

"Serbia's democratic development at lowest level since 2005"

The total rating for Serbia's democratic development has declined from 3.75 to 3.82, on a scale of one to seven, where one is the highest, and seven the lowest level of democratic progress.

Serbia remained in the category of semi-consolidated democracies, including Croatia, Montenegro, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, while Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo were described as "transitional governments or hybrid regimes."

The Democracy Score is an average of seven ratings, and Serbia was quite weak in national democratic governance and the election process, while the situation remained unchanged in civil society, independent media, local democratic governance, judiciary and corruption.

The National Democratic Governance score dropped from four to 4.75 because running the country in 2016 gave way to the "unreasonably long election cycle and cabinet inauguration."

The Freedom House rated the election process 3.50, compared to 3.25 in 2015, over "clearly unequal" election terms, in favor of the ruling parties, and numerous irregularities on election day.

In 2016, democracy in Serbia deteriorated further, continuing a negative trend since two years ago. While improvements were visible in some areas connected with the accession to the EU, they have been annulled by negative developments in the election process, democratic governance and freedom of the media. As a result, the democracy score fell to its lowest since 2015, the Freedom House reported.

The report also says that it's unclear why Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic considered a fresh parliamentary vote necessary, to, as he put it, renew his mandate to carry out the reforms and the EU integration, having in mind that his government was supported by at least four fifths of MPs.

Vucic and his Serbian Progressive Party clearly wanted to ensure another four yeas in power while they still enjoyed considerable public support, and the opposition was still confused, the Freedom House reported, adding that the government was in place no sooner than mid-August, which means that Serbia was without a viable government for most of the year.