The number of voters registered in Serbia’s electoral roll with addresses in Kosovo has increased by more than 20,000 since the previous parliamentary elections, an investigation by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has found, raising questions about the accuracy of voter records ahead of Serbia’s October 25 elections.
According to the investigation by journalists Nevena Bogdanović and Sandra Cvetković, the number of registered voters from Kosovo rose from 94,161 in December 2023 to 115,856 in October 2026.
RFE/RL’s analysis of publicly available electoral records identified repeated names, spelling errors, incomplete voter information and discrepancies in addresses. Opposition representatives on Serbia’s Electoral Roll Audit Commission have described the register as poorly maintained and warned that irregularities could create opportunities for electoral manipulation.
Serbian authorities, however, maintain that the voter register is accurate and the most up to date it has ever been.
Changes in registration may explain the increase
Ognjen Rašuo, an opposition representative on the Electoral Roll Audit Commission, told RFE/RL that the increase does not necessarily mean more people with Serbian documents are actually living in Kosovo.
He said the change may be linked to a different method of registering voters. According to Rašuo, some Kosovo voters had previously been registered at polling stations in Serbia based on temporary residence addresses. Since temporary residence permits are limited to two years, voters who did not renew them were subsequently removed from those locations and returned to the register under their permanent residence addresses in Kosovo.
The relevant Serbian ministries have not explained why the registration approach changed. Serbia’s Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government had not responded to RFE/RL’s questions by the time the report was published.
Rašuo warned that problems extend beyond records relating to Kosovo.
“The entire voter register is like that. This creates a risk of abuse, because irregularities can provide cover for manipulation,” he said.
Repeated names and incomplete information
RFE/RL found that hundreds of names appeared multiple times in the electoral database.
At the same polling station, 349 names were entered more than once under the same first name, surname and parent’s name. Of these, 329 appeared twice, 11 three times, seven four times and two names five times.
The investigation also identified more than 700 identical names appearing at two different polling stations, 32 names listed at three stations and one name appearing at five.
In addition, the parent’s name was missing from more than 3,800 voter records. The database contained hundreds of spelling errors, while more than 2,500 names were written using a mixture of Cyrillic and Latin characters.
The authorities have not explained these discrepancies.
Rašuo said the commission had requested printed extracts of the electoral register intended for use on election day so it could check whether voters were listed more than once and whether their information was sufficient to establish their identities. He said the documents had not been provided.
He stressed that proper checks at polling stations would be essential to prevent multiple voting. Under the rules described in the report, voters must present valid identification, and their fingers are marked with ultraviolet-visible spray to help prevent them from voting more than once.
Questions over voter numbers in Kosovo’s municipalities
The investigation found significant differences between the number of people listed as voters in Serbia’s register and estimates of the Serbian population living in several Kosovo municipalities.
In the village of Rabovce, near Lipjan, 527 people were registered to vote in Serbia. Local resident Zoran Spasić said he believed the actual number was lower because people had moved away or died.
Spasić’s address in Serbia’s electoral register is recorded as “no street, zero,” although he said his home address in Kosovo had received an official street name and house number five years earlier.
In Klina, where local community office employee Silvija Rašković said only around 120 members of the Serbian community lived, Serbia’s electoral register listed more than 1,800 voters.
Rašković said many families who had returned to Kosovo after their homes were rebuilt later moved back to Serbia. She also alleged that deceased people remained on the register, saying she could identify at least 80 individuals who had died but were still listed. She did not provide their names publicly.
In Mitrovica, RFE/RL found at least one deceased person whose name remained on the electoral roll as of October 12, according to the investigation.
Peja had nearly 4,000 registered voters in Serbia’s electoral database. Zoran Savić of the Kosovo-based NGO Aktiv questioned whether the figure reflected the population currently living in the city, citing Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) data indicating that 332 members of the Serbian community had been recorded there.
Savić cautioned that the registered voters could include displaced people, residents of Serbia or other countries, and ethnic Albanians eligible to vote in Serbian elections. He said the authorities should provide enough information for the public to understand who makes up the total.
The findings do not establish that the repeated or incomplete records represent fictitious voters or that electoral fraud has occurred. They do, however, raise questions about the quality and transparency of the register.
ODIHR continues to raise concerns
The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE’s election observation body, has called on Serbia to update its voter register.
In its preliminary report ahead of the October 25 vote, ODIHR said the accuracy of the electoral roll remained a concern, pointing to unusually high numbers of registered voters in certain municipalities and at particular addresses.
Opposition parties and non-governmental election observers have also called for access to relevant government databases so that records can be cross-checked and potential irregularities identified.
Serbian authorities reject allegations that the electoral roll is being manipulated to influence election results, saying recommendations to improve election conditions have been incorporated into legislation.
Kosovo voters must travel to Serbia to cast their ballots
Serbia’s electoral register lists voters from Kosovo across 23 cities and municipalities, with voting organised at 60 polling stations in four Serbian municipalities: Tutin, Raška, Kuršumlija and Vranje.
Kosovo voters do not cast their ballots in Kosovo itself. The arrangement was introduced in 2022 after authorities in Prishtina refused to allow Serbian elections to be held on Kosovo territory.
At the December 2023 parliamentary elections, 51 polling stations were established for voters from Kosovo. The number has now increased to 60 alongside the rise in registered voters.
Spasić, who is registered in Rabovce, is expected to vote in Kuršumlija. He said travelling to Serbia for the ballot would take up an entire day and described the journey as a waste of time.
“If voting were held in Kosovo, I would vote. My whole family has always voted,” he told RFE/RL.
Serbia and Kosovo maintain separate civil registration systems, reflecting their unresolved dispute over Kosovo’s status. Serbia continues to regard Kosovo as part of its territory, while Kosovo maintains its own institutions and records.
The discrepancy between the two systems complicates efforts to establish how many people registered in Serbia’s electoral roll actually live in Kosovo.
Previous turnout and voting arrangements
At Serbia’s December 2023 parliamentary elections, turnout among registered voters from Kosovo was approximately 25 percent. Of the 23,878 who voted, more than 19,000 — around 80 percent — supported the ruling coalition led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).
The last Serbian parliamentary elections held in Serbian-majority areas of Kosovo took place on June 21, 2020. Under the arrangement at the time, the OSCE collected ballots in Kosovo before they were counted in Serbia, in Raška and Vranje.
That practice ended in 2022, when Kosovo’s institutions opposed the organisation of Serbian elections on Kosovo territory. International representatives have repeatedly called on Kosovo to find a way to enable eligible citizens to vote in Serbian elections.
Prishtina has said that Belgrade should submit a direct request for elections to be held in Kosovo rather than relying on the OSCE as an intermediary. Serbia has rejected that approach, arguing that it would imply recognition of Kosovo’s independence.
The RFE/RL investigation highlights continuing questions about the accuracy of Serbia’s electoral register, the scale of the Kosovo voter population and the transparency of the system ahead of the October 25 parliamentary elections.
