“You might never receive the care allowance again” - that’s what one woman with a disability said she was told if she failed to vote for Serbia’s ruling party in this weekend’s election.
The woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the remark was made by an individual from a major association providing assistance for people with disabilities.
That association, like others, is largely dependent on state or local authorities for funding.
“She didn’t say that I definitely wouldn’t receive it, but that I might never receive it again,” the woman added.
Rights groups and watchdogs have long warned of a climate of intimidation within the public sector and sections of society dependent on the state for financial support.
Now, speaking ahead of a pivotal election on Sunday in which the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, faces the biggest challenge yet to its 14-year grip on power, a human rights activist familiar with the field told BIRN of a “collective fear among people with disabilities”.
“Even without being directly threatened, they agree to vote for the ruling party out of fear that, if they don’t, they could lose their care and assistance allowance, which they are legally entitled to,” said the activist, who, like other interlocutors, spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation.
“It’s not even necessarily about coercion. People do this on a large scale because there is a widespread sense of fear. They think: ‘If I don’t give them my vote, something will happen to my care and assistance allowance.’”
Political pressure documented
According to Serbia’s 2022 census, more than 356,000 people with disabilities in Serbia, or roughly 5.5 per cent of the population over the age of two.
For years, Serbian election authorities have been criticised for failing to ensure voting privacy for people with disabilities, such as those living with blindness or vision impairment who are not provided with braille ballot papers; international election observers have previously cited the inaccessibility of polling stations for people with disabilities.
Political pressure on socially vulnerable voters in Serbia has been documented before.
In a 2023 report, election watchdog CRTA identified networks of political influence within social welfare centres and collected accounts from employees describing the use of social assistance to secure political support, including votes and participation in party activities.
CRTA’s monitoring of the 2023 elections also documented a case in which beneficiaries of social welfare support were denied that support for supporting an opposition party.
According to 2021 data from the association Creative-educational centre, people with disabilities and their families are among those at highest risk of poverty, with over 70 per cent of families living below the poverty line and only 13 per cent of people with disabilities in work.
Many people with disabilities are dependent on state welfare support – financial as well as in healthcare support and services – and on associations that usually provide help with access to assistive devices, education, training and employment.
Out of a dozen people interviewed by BIRN for this story, five reported witnessing statements from representatives of these associations that could be interpreted as pressure to vote for the SNS.
A person from a disability organisation in southern Serbia said the recently appointed head of the organisation had asked others within the organisation to pledge their vote for the ruling party and its candidate for prime minister, ex-President Aleksandar Vucic.
“I was present at the assembly when she was elected president,” the person said. “Afterwards, she told several people to stay because she wanted to ask them something. She then took each of them outside individually, including my neighbour. When my neighbour returned, I asked her what she had been asked. She told me she had immediately realised what it was about – whether she was willing to pledge her support to Vucic and the SNS as a secure vote.”
Many of these organisations are dependent on funding from public coffers.
Another person from a Belgrade-based organisation said such pressure is commonplace.
“We receive threats that our funding will be cut,” the person said.
Associations linked to politics
During the campaign for Serbia’s snap parliamentary elections in December 2023, more than 2,000 public figures signed a declaration of support for the SNS, including 117 heads and members of 88 associations and federations representing people with disabilities across Serbia, identified by name and job title.
According to a person working with a major Belgrade-based disability rights organisation, internal communications between those involved indicate that at least some of them were under pressure from state officials to sign the pledge, which they did so despite the statutes of their organisations prohibiting such political engagement.
“They directly violated their own statutes,” the person said. “When some people confronted them about it, they said, ‘I had to’.”
The human rights activist said certain people within these associations are “fiercely loyal to their political parties, and they blackmail their own members”.
“These are the so-called traditional SNS-affiliated associations, which collect votes in this way whenever needed,” the activist told BIRN.
“This is perhaps the clearest example of how people are pressured through associations. Many people join these organisations hoping to have some kind of social life or access to certain benefits.”
“I know that during election campaigns, they have repeatedly been pressured and threatened in precisely these ways to secure votes for the party as part of its organised vote-gathering network.”
Social aid as an instrument of manipulation
Following the 2023 elections, CRTA published a report alleging that financial aid, firewood and humanitarian packages were offered to vulnerable members of Serbian society in exchange for political support, coupled with threats of certain benefits being withdrawn.
According to the report, many social welfare offices prioritise those who vote for the ruling party when it comes to disbursing welfare payments. People hired to work at such centres are often members of the SNS, supporters or activists.
A woman with a disability from northern Serbian told BIRN that her welfare allowance is repeatedly delayed. She should receive it every month, but hasn’t received anything since May. The woman is openly critical of the SNS.
She said she knew of a person employed at a social welfare centre who was using their position to secure votes for the SNS.
The pressure is rarely explicit, she said, but framed as an expectation of gratitude.
“Very, very rarely do they actually say, ‘You have to vote for the SNS,’” she said. “Only recently have they started mentioning Vucic by name, but they still largely avoid doing so. Instead, it is presented as something he has done for us, something we now have to repay, rather than as blackmail.”
“They tell us that Vucic has helped us, that he has made certain things possible for us, and now we should show our gratitude so we don’t lose those benefits. It’s an implicit threat.”