Dear Members of the United States Congress,
I am writing to you as a U.S. citizen of Serbian origin living in South Florida, regarding the snap parliamentary elections in the Republic of Serbia scheduled for October 25, 2026. Decisions by Serbian authorities concerning voting arrangements for Serbian citizens in the United States prompted me to address not only obstacles to exercising voting rights, but also broader problems affecting democratic institutions in the country of my birth. I intend to submit this letter and the accompanying document on October 23, delivering them in person to some congressional offices and electronically to the remaining recipients.
In the previous parliamentary elections, Serbian citizens in the United States voted on Saturday, one day before voting took place in Serbia, from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time. This time, acting on a proposal from Serbia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Republic Electoral Commission decided that voting abroad would follow Serbia’s voting hours rather than the usual local voting hours. In Washington, D.C., that meant voting on Sunday, from 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. local time.
Polling locations were approved only in Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles, with none established in Miami, Houston, San Diego, or San Francisco. These decisions made it even more difficult for citizens to exercise their voting rights, especially those already facing long journeys and substantial travel expenses.
On Sunday evening, October 4, 2026, I watched a live broadcast of the Republic Electoral Commission’s session from my apartment in Florida. It was around 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time, while in Serbia it was already Monday, October 5, around 1:30 a.m. Although I was familiar with Serbia’s political situation, the Commission’s decision that evening still took me completely by surprise.
When the session ended, I stepped outside my apartment, still taken aback by the decision. I paused for a moment, reflecting on what had just happened. I looked around and saw palm trees. I was in Boca Raton, Florida, thousands of miles from Serbia, in a country where I had lived for twelve years and had become a citizen. Then I realized what date it was. In Serbia, it was already October 5.
Exactly twenty-six years earlier, on that same day, I was in Belgrade, among the citizens defending the will of the voters and taking part in the events that led to the fall of Slobodan Milošević’s regime. For many of us, that day represented a victory for the will of the people and the hope that we would never again have to fight for basic democratic rights in the same way.
Now, twenty-six years later, on another continent, I found myself confronting a question I had believed was settled long ago. How is it possible that I still have to fight to exercise my right to vote in Serbia? I had once participated in defending the will of the voters in Belgrade, and now, as an American citizen, I was once again faced with decisions by Serbian authorities that make it difficult for me to participate in Serbian elections held in the United States.
That same evening, October 4, U.S. time, I contacted members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. The very next day, I received responses from several congressional offices. Encouraged by those responses, I decided to expand my initial correspondence and explain why I see the voting difficulties faced by Serbian citizens abroad as part of a much broader problem. I began working on the accompanying document on October 6.
My decision to prepare a broader analysis was shaped not only by that incident, but also by more than three decades of experience in politics and elections. As a teenager, I opposed the regime of Slobodan Milošević, and in 1996, as soon as I became eligible to vote, I participated in election monitoring for the first time. In the following years, I was an opposition activist, an election campaign organizer, a candidate, and an elected representative at the local, municipal, and provincial levels. My last public office was as a member of the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina from 2008 to 2012. That experience gave me firsthand knowledge of the political and electoral system, both from the opposition and from inside government institutions, including practices that operate outside formal procedures.
Although I have lived in the United States since 2014, I have continued to follow political developments in Serbia and occasionally take part in electoral processes, including election monitoring and the documentation of irregularities. These experiences have shown me how elections are conducted and what kinds of irregularities and abuses occur during the process. Today, I hold no political or public office in Serbia, nor do I intend to do so again.
Drawing on more than three decades of political experience and research conducted in recent years, I have concluded that, during his time in power since 2012, Aleksandar Vučić has built a system in which state institutions, public resources, citizens’ economic dependence, the media, and the security apparatus serve to preserve his political power. My concern is with the system as a whole and the way its various mechanisms reinforce one another. This is precisely what I have sought to illustrate through concrete examples in the document I am submitting to members of Congress and the broader public in Serbia.
My experience in Serbia in 2000 taught me that winning an election does not guarantee a transfer of power, particularly when the police, security services, and military are subject to political control. Drawing on personal experience, publicly available information, and research by Serbian and international organizations, I have sought to show not only how political power is maintained, but also what can prevent its democratic transfer. This is a personal civic statement, rooted in my commitment to civil rights and democratic values in both Serbia and the United States.
This letter is addressed primarily to Representative Jared Moskowitz and Senator Ashley Moody, my elected representatives in the U.S. Congress from Florida. Its recipients also include the co-chairs of the Congressional Serbian American Caucus, Representatives Claudia Tenney and Emanuel Cleaver, as well as other Caucus members, in recognition of their engagement in U.S.–Serbia relations. I am also submitting the document to Representative Joe Wilson and other members of the House and Senate involved in legislative efforts concerning democratic institutions and the rule of law in Serbia through the Supporting the Rule of Law, Building Institutional Justice, and Accountability (SRBIJA) Act.
I am also submitting the letter and accompanying document to the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, commonly known as the Helsinki Commission; the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR); and Freedom House, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the International Republican Institute (IRI), and Amnesty International, given their work on election integrity, democratic institutions, and human rights.
I will also make the document publicly available in English and Serbian so that citizens of both countries can read it, regardless of their political views.
Drawing on more than three decades of experience with elections, including firsthand election monitoring and documented irregularities in previous electoral cycles, I am deeply concerned about the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 25, 2026. When individuals, Serbian and international election observation missions, independent media outlets, and investigative journalists exposed electoral abuses, those abuses were not eliminated. In fact, the opposite happened. With each successive election cycle, Vučić’s regime has further refined its electoral manipulation and fraud, including the methods used to carry them out and conceal them.
My concern extends beyond manipulation of voters’ choices. It also includes the danger that the will of the voters may not be respected if they choose to remove those in power. For me, the issue goes beyond the upcoming elections. It concerns the very survival of democracy in Serbia.
Respectfully,