The Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) called on the State Election Commission (SEC) to increase the transparency of its sessions, in accordance with OSCE/ODIHR recommendations.
The president of the CDT, Milica Kovačević, said that the presence of journalists at the sessions during the epidemic could pose a health risk, and that the SEC must implement strict preventive measures.
"We invite them to increase the transparency of their work in such a way that after each session they will inform the media and the public about important issues with media releases, or by organizing special press conferences when it comes to more important and sensitive decisions, with the necessary caution and respect for epidemiological rules," she stated. Kovačević.
The CDT appealed to the president and members of the SEC to show increased openness to journalists' inquiries.
"Because in these complex circumstances for the conduct of elections, participants in the electoral process and citizens have a lot of dilemmas, and it is the SEC's duty to answer them," the announcement states.
They recalled that the OSCE/ODIHR observation missions in the two last election cycles gave an identical recommendation.
"In order to improve transparency, responsibility and public trust in the work of the election enforcement body, the presence of the media at all sessions of the SEC should be enabled, and that the institution should publish all relevant documents, including decisions, in a timely manner," the statement added.
The CDT welcomed the improvement of the practices of the SEC, which resulted in the publication of all important documents, as well as the minutes of the sessions.
"Due to procedural reasons, the minutes are published with great delay, so the media and the general public are not informed in a timely manner about what the SEC discussed and decided at the sessions," the announcement concludes.
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