Elections in Serbia (original) (raw)

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Elections in Serbia are mandated by the Constitution and legislation. The President of the Republic, National Assembly, provincial (Vojvodina) and local (municipalities and cities) assemblies are all elective offices. Since 1990, twelve presidential, fourteen parliamentary and ten provincial elections were held.

Electoral procedures

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Any Serbian citizen over age 18 may be a candidate in presidential, parliamentary, provincial or local elections, provided that a sufficient number of endorsements by Serbian voters is obtained beforehand. At least five days before the election, citizens are notified about the election, receive information about the day and time of the election, and the address of the polling station where they could vote. Voting takes place in polling stations in Serbia and abroad, monitored by an electoral board and observers at each station. During the election day, registered voters could vote from 07:00 (UTC+01:00) to 20:00, though if the polling station is opened later than 07:00, voting is then extended by the amount of time for which the opening of the polling station was delayed. Ballots consist of an election list with ordinal numbers (which are circled to indicate a vote). All votes are counted by hand by the members of polling boards. Depending on the type of the elections, national, provincial or local electoral commission publishes official results and handles complaints. Decisions of the electoral commissions may be appealed at the Constitutional Court.

Presidential elections

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The President of the Republic is elected for a five-year term by a direct vote of all citizens in a majority system, requiring runoff elections if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of votes in the first round.

Parliamentary elections

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The deputies for the National Assembly are elected for a four-year term by closed-list proportional representation from a single nationwide constituency.

Eligible voters vote for electoral lists, on which the registered candidates are present. A maximum of 250 candidates could be present on a single electoral list. An electoral list could be only submitted by a registered political party. To submit an electoral list, at least 10,000 valid signatures must be collected, though ethnic minority parties only need to collect 5,000 signature to qualify on ballot. At least 40 percent of candidates on electoral lists must be female.[1]

Seats are allocated using the d'Hondt method with an electoral threshold of 3 percent of all votes cast, although the threshold is waived for ethnic minority lists.[2][3][4] Seats are awarded to candidates from electoral lists according to their order, starting with the first candidate from an electoral list.

It is possible for a snap election to take place.

Party, alliance, or citizens' group	Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
Serbia Must Not Stop	1,783,701	48.07	+3.8	129	+9
Serbia Against Violence	902,450	24.32	+5.39	65	+25
SPS–JS–ZS	249,916	6.73	–5.06	18	–13
National Democratic Alternative	191,431	5.16	–0.38	13	–1
We–The Voice from the People	178,830	4.82	New	13	1
National Gathering	105,165	2.83	–4.91	0	–16
Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians	64,747	1.74	+0.11	6	+1
Serbian Radical Party	55,782	1.50	–0.72	0	0
Good Morning Serbia	45,079	1.21	–3.69	0	0
People's Party	33,388	0.90	New	0	–12
SPP–DSHV	29,066	0.78	–0.84	2	–3
Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak	21,827	0.59	+0.03	2	0
Political Battle of the Albanians Continues	13,501	0.36	+0.08	1	0
RS–NKPJ	11,369	0.31	New	1	New
It Must Be Different	9,243	0.25	New	0	New
Coalition for Peace and Tolerance	6,786	0.18	New	0	–1
Nova–D2SP–GDF–Libdem–Glas	5,462	0.15	New	0	0
Albanian Democratic Alternative	3,235	0.09	0	0	0
Total	3,710,978	100.00	–	250	0
Valid votes	3,710,978	97.13
Invalid/blank votes	109,768	2.87
Total votes	3,820,746	100.00
Registered voters/turnout	6,500,666	58.77
Source: Republic Electoral Commission,[5][6]

Provincial elections

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The deputies for the Assembly of Vojvodina are elected for a four-year term by closed-list proportional representation from a single province-wide constituency.[2][7]

Eligible voters vote for electoral lists, on which the registered candidates are present. A maximum of 120 candidates could be present on a single electoral list.[3] An electoral list could be only submitted by a registered political party.[3][8] To submit an electoral list, at least 4,000 valid signatures must be collected, though ethnic minority parties only need to collect 2,000 signature to qualify on ballot. At least 40 percent of candidates on electoral lists must be female.[9] The electoral list is submitted by its chosen ballot representative.[10] An electoral list could be declined, after which those who had submitted can fix the deficiencies in a span of 48 hours, or rejected, if the person is not authorised to nominate candidates.[10] The name and date of the election, names of the electoral lists and its ballot representatives, and information on how to vote are only present on the voting ballot.[3][10]

Seats are allocated using the d'Hondt method with an electoral threshold of 3 percent of all votes cast, although the threshold is waived for ethnic minority parties.[2][3][11] Seats are awarded to candidates from electoral lists according to their order, starting with the first candidate from an electoral list.

It is possible for a snap election to take place.

Electoral list	Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
Vojvodina Must Not Stop	466,035	48.82	–12.76	66	–10
Serbia Against Violence	215,197	22.55	New	30	New
Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians	63,721	6.68	–2.61	9	–3
National Democratic Alternative	50,582	5.30	–3.29	7	–3
SPS–JS–ZS	49,775	5.21	–5.97	7	–4
LSV–VMDK–ZZV	24,625	2.58	–2.54	0	–6
National Gathering	22,487	2.36	New	0	New
Serbian Radical Party	21,135	2.21	–1.06	0	–4
Good Morning Serbia	14,715	1.54	New	0	New
Russian Party	9,907	1.04	New	1	New
People's Party	8,140	0.85	New	0	New
SPP–DSHV	4,979	0.52	–0.14	0	–
Vojvodina Must Be Different	3,221	0.34	–0.24	0	–
Total	954,519	100.00	–	120	0
Valid votes	954,519	96.91
Invalid/blank votes	30,444	3.09
Total votes	984,963	100.00
Registered voters/turnout	1,669,791	58.99
Source: Provincial Electoral Commission[12]

All local elections in Serbia are held under proportional representation. Mayors are not directly elected but are instead chosen by elected members of the local assemblies (city/municipality assembly). The electoral threshold for assembly representation is three per cent (of all votes, not only of valid votes), although parties representing national minority communities are exempt from this requirement.

• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system

1. ^ "Cenzus tri odsto, na listama 40 procenata žena" [Three percent threshold, 40 percent of women on the lists]. Radio Television of Serbia (in Serbian). 8 February 2022. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
2. ^ a b c "Electoral system of Serbia". Inter-Parliamentary Union. 2016. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
3. ^ a b c d e "Odluka o izboru poslanika u Skupštinu Autonomne pokrajine Vojvodine" [Decision on the election of deputies to the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina]. Assembly of Vojvodina (in Serbian). 6 June 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
4. ^ Bjelotomić, Snežana (13 January 2020). "Electoral threshold reduced to 3%". Serbian Monitor. Archived from the original on 14 May 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
5. ^ "Rezultati izbora" [Election results]. Republic Electoral Commission (in Serbian). 17 December 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
6. ^ "Konačan izveštaj RIK-a: Broj glasova koje su osvojile liste i koliko će poslanika imati u Skupštini". N1. 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
7. ^ "Statut Autonomne pokrajine Vojvodine" [Statute of the Autonomous Province of Vojvovina]. Assembly of Vojvodina. 22 May 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
8. ^ "Promena izbornih zakona u Vojvodini: Šta će biti drugačije na novim izborima" [Change of election laws in Vojvodina: What will be different in the new elections]. Danas (in Serbian). 4 October 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
9. ^ "Cenzus tri odsto, na listama 40 procenata žena" [Three percent threshold, 40 percent of women on the lists]. Radio Television of Serbia (in Serbian). 8 February 2022. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
10. ^ a b c "Zakon o izboru narodnih poslanika" [Law on Election of People's Deputies]. Pravno-informacioni sistem (in Serbian). 7 February 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
11. ^ Bjelotomić, Snežana (13 January 2020). "Electoral threshold reduced to 3%". Serbian Monitor. Archived from the original on 14 May 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
12. ^ "Izveštaj o sprovedenim izborima za poslanike Skupštine Autonomne pokrajine Vojvodine održanim 17. i 30. decembra 2023. godine" [Report on the conducted elections for deputies to the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina held on December 17 and 30, 2023] (PDF). Provincial Electoral Commission (in Serbian). January 30, 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2024.

• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• Parties and Elections in Europe