The Serbian Democratic Forum (SDF) announced on Wednesday that it would file a constitutional complaint against the State Electoral Commission (DIP) for rejecting a request by SDF that in electoral constituents where ethnic minorities form 33% of the population ballots for the coming European Parliament election be printed in their language and script.
SDF president Veljko Dzakula explained that this was a right guaranteed by the Constitution, the constitutional law on ethnic minority rights and the law on the official use of ethnic minority languages and scripts, dismissing DIP's explanation that ballots were not an official form or document.
Dzakula showed reporters a letter by DIP to county electoral commissions sent ahead of the 2009 local election which notes that in those constituencies where bilingual ballots are being used, a draft of the said ballot must be submitted for publication in the Official Gazette.
"Poking around, we found out that bilingual ballots were in fact not introduced because of an agreement between the Independent Serbian Democratic Party (SDSS) and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)", Dzakula said.
He underscored that in Istria County, the Italian minority was guaranteed official use of their language even though that minority does not make up one third of the population.
"This was done due to vested rights and we expect that the use of its language and script will be guaranteed to the Serb community as a vested right in those communities where they make up more than a third of the population and where the Serb language would be in equal official use", Dzakula said.
He considers that the electoral commission should ensure ballots in the Cyrillic script in 21 municipalities and the towns of Vrbovsko and Vukovar where Serbs make up a third of the population as was planned in 2009.
SDF demands that bilingual street signs be put up immediately in these towns and these demands have received support from the Platform 112 nongovernmental organisation.
