The President of the Roma Party, Srđan Šajn, has launched a scathing critique against the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) regime, exposing a deeply entrenched network of voter coercion.

Speaking directly to N1 during the rollout of the “Ne prodaj glas” (Don’t Sell Your Vote) grassroots campaign, Šajn revealed that the government has weaponized extreme poverty and sophisticated tracking methods to systematically compromise the democratic integrity of roughly half a million citizens ahead of the national elections.

The Anatomy of “Capillary Votes” and Exploitation

According to Šajn, political pressure is not a new phenomenon in the Balkans, but the current administration has refined voter intimidation into an absolute science. Out of approximately 350,000 Roma citizens currently registered on the official voter rolls, the ruling party utilizes a granular tracking method known as “capillary votes” (kapilarni glasovi) to aggressively manipulate the community.

Through this tactic, ruling party operatives identify vulnerable individuals by their exact first and last names, creating a high-pressure system of forced political compliance.

Voter Exploitation Statistics (Roma Party Estimates)
│
├── Total Registered Roma Voters ──► 350,000 Citizens
├── Directly Purchased Roma Votes ─► Over 100,000 Voters
└── Total Coerced Serbian Voters ──► ~500,000 Citizens (No Free Choice)

The Price of Autonomy: Coercion Mechanisms

The Roma Party estimates that nearly half a million voters across Serbia are entirely stripped of their right to a free and independent vote. The regime secures these numbers by targeting socially and economically disadvantaged demographics through three primary avenues of pressure:

• Employment Extortion: Threatening the termination of temporary contracts or promising jobs only in exchange for documented ruling party votes.
• Social Aid Exploitation: Conditional distribution of state welfare benefits, emergency financial packages, and localized humanitarian aid.
• Direct Intimidation: Explicit verbal threats to families living in marginalized settlements.

“We want to explain to those who accept 20, 30, or 50 euros for their ballot on election day that this is not a day to collect a daily wage,” Šajn emphasized. “This is the day you choose a representative who will actually fight within state institutions against systemic discrimination.”

The Two-Pronged Electoral Strategy

In response to the current political climate, the Roma Party has finalized its structural agenda, focusing heavily on rebuilding foundational democratic guardrails:

Core Agenda Goal	Target Action Plan
1. Re-establishing the Rule of Law	Enforcing a rigid, constitutional separation of powers between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
2. Empowering the Impoverished	Amplifying the political agency of the lower class, ensuring that systemic corruption cannot silence marginalized communities.

Legal Battles and a Call to the Serbian Public

The party has been highly proactive on the legal front, filing over 40 criminal complaints since the onset of the ongoing anti-government student and civic protests. A significant portion of these lawsuits target targeted hate speech campaigns broadcast on state-aligned media outlets like Informer.

While Šajn openly admits he does not expect the current judiciary to pass down guilty verdicts under the current regime, he notes that these filings are crucial for establishing a paper trail to immediately prosecute these bad actors once a transition of power occurs.

The Roma Party concluded with an urgent appeal for cross-demographic solidarity, reminding mainstream Serbian society that marginalized communities cannot fight state-sponsored electoral fraud entirely on their own.