"Snap elections to be financed from budget reserves"

BELGRADE The funds for early parliamentary elections will be allocated from the budget reserves, "since 2014 was not planned to be an election year." This is according to Dejan Djurdjevic, president of the Republic Election Commission (RIK). "Snap elections to be financed from budget reserves" “At the moment, we cannot know the exact cost of the elections since it depends on several variable factors, primarily the total number of electors, and the decision on the issue will be made by RIK based on the report of the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, which is in charge of the electoral register,” Djurdjevic said. The costs of the elections depend on the number of polling stations, which is determined by RIK based on the proposal by the municipal authorities. “We have already received the information that certain municipal governments have increased the number of polling places in their territory, and the cost of the elections will mostly depend on the number of electoral lists which will stand the elections, since every electoral list nominates a member, a substitute member in RIK and a clerk at every polling station,” the RIK president said. There are between 8 and 8.5 thousand polling stations in Serbia, and every electoral list can delegate 17,000 members of the election commission in an extended makeup, he said. “The cost of the elections depends mostly on this aspect. Considering the 2012 elections, the parliament's administration officers will draft a projection of costs of the early parliamentary elections and based on that a request will be sent to the government to allocate funds for the purpose from the current budget reserves,” Djurdjevic said. He said that after a session of RIK, the first one after the announcement of the early parliamentary elections, that 2014 was not planned to be an election year so there are no funds in the budget for RIK, adding that once a formal decision to hold the elections is rendered, the Commission will call on the parliament's financial operation office to draft a projection of the election costs. By January 29, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic is expected to schedule early parliamentary elections for March 16. A file photo showing ballot papers printed ( Tanjug) Tanjug

"Snap elections to be financed from budget reserves"

“At the moment, we cannot know the exact cost of the elections since it depends on several variable factors, primarily the total number of electors, and the decision on the issue will be made by RIK based on the report of the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, which is in charge of the electoral register,” Đurđević said.

The costs of the elections depend on the number of polling stations, which is determined by RIK based on the proposal by the municipal authorities.

“We have already received the information that certain municipal governments have increased the number of polling places in their territory, and the cost of the elections will mostly depend on the number of electoral lists which will stand the elections, since every electoral list nominates a member, a substitute member in RIK and a clerk at every polling station,” the RIK president said.

There are between 8 and 8.5 thousand polling stations in Serbia, and every electoral list can delegate 17,000 members of the election commission in an extended makeup, he said.

“The cost of the elections depends mostly on this aspect. Considering the 2012 elections, the parliament's administration officers will draft a projection of costs of the early parliamentary elections and based on that a request will be sent to the government to allocate funds for the purpose from the current budget reserves,” Đurđević said.

He said that after a session of RIK, the first one after the announcement of the early parliamentary elections, that 2014 was not planned to be an election year so there are no funds in the budget for RIK, adding that once a formal decision to hold the elections is rendered, the Commission will call on the parliament's financial operation office to draft a projection of the election costs.

By January 29, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić is expected to schedule early parliamentary elections for March 16.