In November 2023, President Aleksandar Vučić formally dissolved parliament and announced plans to hold snap elections for the unicameral, 250-seat National Assembly. The snap elections are set to be held on December 17, 2023, less than two years into the Assembly’s four-year term, and will coincide with local snap elections in some municipalities. This vote follows presidential and parliamentary elections that were held in April 2022, which saw Vučić elected to a second term with 60 percent of the vote while his populist Zajedno možemo sve (“Together We Can Do Everything”) coalition lost its majority in the National Assembly, although it won a major plurality of the votes. Ahead of the December snap elections, a wider swath of opposition parties has come together to challenge the coalition led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) compared to the last elections.

Serbia is a parliamentary democracy with competitive multiparty elections, but in recent years the ruling SNS has steadily eroded political rights and civil liberties, putting pressure on independent media, the political opposition, and civil society organizations. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which observed the April 2022 elections, found the ruling coalition urged government employees to support them and misused state resources to garner support. Though the European Union (EU) orchestrated an interparty dialogue ahead of the 2022 elections, which convened political party representatives to discuss electoral conditions, the 16 proposed measures did not make a significant impact on the electoral process. In the wake of election day, it took officials 93 days to finalize the results.

The snap parliamentary elections come amidst a period of turmoil for Serbia. In May 2023, two mass shootings killed 19 people and inspired opposition-led “Serbia against violence” protests. In Belgrade, tens of thousands of protestors demanded the resignation of cabinet ministers, members of the Regulatory Authority of Electronic Media (REM), and members of state-owned broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) for their role in allegedly promoting content that incited violence through both digital and traditional media. Protesters also urged the government to fully implement the OSCE mission’s recommendations from the 2022 elections. Separately, tension between the governments of Serbia and Kosovo has increased dramatically in the past two years, particularly after a shoot-out between a group of Serbian paramilitary fighters and Kosovar law enforcement officers in September 2023 resulted in several deaths. Serbia’s potential accession to the EU has also stagnated under Vučić, who claimed in January 2023 that Serbia was “not enthusiastic” about EU membership. The EU has been critical of Vučić's relationship with the Kremlin, his opposition to imposing sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, and the repression of media freedoms and freedom of expression in the country.
 
Freedom House has identified the following as key digital interference issues to watch ahead of election day:

• Information manipulation: Manipulated content has plagued the online environment in Serbia for years, and social media platforms have removed inauthentic accounts linked to the ruling party. In February 2023, Meta announced it had removed over 5,000 inauthentic accounts on Facebook and 100 on Instagram that spread messages in support of the SNS and Vučić. According to the report, these accounts, which also operated across Twitter and YouTube, were linked to state employees and the SNS’s Internet Team, a group of employees who have previously operated networks of inauthentic social media accounts. In 2020, X, at the time known as Twitter, removed 8,500 inauthentic accounts that promoted narratives favoring Vučić and the SNS. A 2021 report from Reporters Without Borders detailed the rise of “ugly twin” websites, which mimicked the websites of popular independent media outlets, but posted content in support of the government. The Serbian public also remains a target of disinformation campaigns both homegrown and originating from Russia. Such campaigns often instrumentalize history, religion, and identity to inflame tensions between Serbia and its neighbors, most notably Kosovo. 
• Harassment and intimidation: Individuals, including journalists, routinely face severe online harassment and occasional physical attacks for expressing their opinions online, which could escalate ahead of the election. The Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) documented 227 attacks against journalists, including 15 physical assaults, between January 2022 and June 2023. In December 2022, TV Nova S journalist Jelena Obućina faced a barrage of violent threats on X following a report from a pro-government tabloid that incorrectly claimed she had threatened Vučić. Prominent individuals who have supported the “Serbia against violence” protests have also experienced significant online harassment. Additionally, a November 2023 report from Access Now, SHARE Foundation, The Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto, and Amnesty International revealed that two civil society members had their devices compromised by an attack that resembled NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. Routine intimidation could have a chilling effect on free speech ahead of the elections. 
• Arrests and prosecution for online activity: While arrests for online speech protected under international human rights standards are rare, independent news outlets have faced a barrage of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) in recent years. Most notably, the prominent news outlet KRIK has been sued at least 12 times in recent years by government officials or prominent businesspeople concerning the outlet’s reporting on corruption. For instance, Nikola Petrović, President Vučić's godfather, sued KRIK over an April 2023 article that detailed his business dealings with a drug trafficker. The use of SLAPPs against independent media outlets could deter them from critical reporting ahead of, or in the wake of, the election. 
• Technical attacks: Cyberattacks targeting both independent media outlets and state institutions are fairly common. JUGpress, an independent media outlet in southern Serbia, has routinely faced cyberattacks, including an attack in May 2023, which the outlet claimed was in retaliation for its objective reporting. Government websites have also been subject to cyberattacks; in January 2023, an array of government websites, including those of the Ministry of Health and the Serbian Army, suffered cyberattacks, for which social media accounts linked to hacking group Anonymous claimed responsibility. Cyberattacks on independent media outlets and government entities ahead of or after the election could limit people’s ability to access reliable electoral information, particularly given the length of time that may pass before the vote count is finalized.   

 
Serbia has a score of 59 out of 100, with 100 representing the least vulnerability in terms of election integrity, on Freedom House’s Election Vulnerability Index, which is based on a selection of key election-related indicators. The score reflects an online media environment rife with disinformation and harassment, as well as the repression of media freedoms. The country is rated Partly Free in Freedom in the World 2023, with a score of 60 out of 100 with respect to its political rights and civil liberties; Free in Freedom on the Net 2023, with an internet freedom score of 71 out of 100; and as a Technical or Hybrid Regime in Nations in Transit 2023, with a score of 46 out of 100 for the country’s democratic progress. To learn more about these annual Freedom House assessments, please visit the Serbia country reports in Freedom in the World, Freedom on the Net, and Nations in Transit.