Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The so-called “student instructions” circulated on social media constitute a malicious attempt to exert day-to-day political pressure during the election campaign.

In order to prevent the dissemination of disinformation, we consider it necessary to provide certain clarifications regarding applications to vote abroad.

The procedure is as follows:

In order for a citizen of the Republic of Serbia temporarily residing abroad to exercise their right to vote, they must have a duly registered permanent address in the Republic of Serbia and be entered in the Unified Electoral Roll. They must then submit, through the nearest diplomatic or consular mission, a request for an entry to be made in the Electoral Roll indicating that they will vote abroad. The embassy or consulate subsequently forwards the request electronically, through the relevant information system, to the competent municipal or city administration authorised to decide on applications to vote abroad.

The deadline for submitting applications to vote abroad is midnight, Belgrade time, on 3 October 2026. This does not, however, mean that decisions on those applications must also be issued by that deadline. The timing of such decisions depends primarily on when the applications are submitted, as the competent authorities require a certain amount of time to process them and issue the relevant decisions.

It is also important to note that a decision changing a voter’s place of voting is issued by the competent municipal or city administration after the Republic Electoral Commission has adopted a decision establishing polling stations abroad.

Serbia’s diplomatic and consular network is working at full capacity on a daily basis to process all applications received. This is evidenced by the fact that twice as many decisions have already been issued as in the previous electoral cycle. There is therefore absolutely no basis for spreading false claims of alleged obstruction.