2016 Serbian parliamentary election
Serbia
24 April 2016
All 250 seats in the National Assembly
126 seats needed for a majority
Turnout56.07% (Increase 2.98pp)
PartyLeader % Seats +/–
SNS coalition Aleksandar Vučić 49.71 131 −39
SPS–JS–ZS–KP Ivica Dačić 11.28 29 −4
SRS Vojislav Šešelj 8.34 22 +22
DJB Saša Radulović 6.21 16 +16
DS coalition Bojan Pajtić 6.20 16 −3
DSS–Dveri Sanda Rašković Ivić 5.19 13 +13
SDS–LDP–LSV Boris Tadić 5.17 13 −2
Minority lists
VMSZ–VMDP István Pásztor 1.54 4 −2
BDZS Muamer Zukorlić 0.89 2 New
SDAS Sulejman Ugljanin 0.82 2 −1
ZES Goran Čabradi 0.65 1 New
PVD Riza Halimi 0.44 1 −1
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Election results by municipality
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Aleksandar Vučić
SNS		 Aleksandar Vučić
SNS

Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 24 April 2016.[1] Initially, the election were originally due to be held by March 2018, but on 17 January 2016 Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić called for a snap election claiming Serbia "needs four more years of stability so that it is ready to join the European Union". The elections were held simultaneously with provincial elections in Vojvodina and nationwide local elections.

Voter turnout was 56%. Vučić's Serbian Progressive Party-led coalition retained its majority, winning 131 of the 250 seats. In contrast to the 2014 elections, a record-breaking seven non-minority lists passed the 5% threshold. Several parties returned to the National Assembly, including the Serbian Radical Party, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Serbia, while three parties entered for the first time; the liberal Enough is Enough, the conservative Dveri (in coalition with the Democratic Party of Serbia) and the Green Party (as a Slovak ethnic minority list).

Vučić announced formation of the new government by early June.[2] He stated that the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians were the only certain partners in the cabinet, and remained ambiguous about the future cooperation with the Socialist Party of Serbia, the coalition partners in the previous government.[3] After a two-month delay, Vučić announced the new cabinet on 8 August, consisting of eight old and eight new ministers, retaining the coalition with the Socialist Party.[4] The government was approved by the National Assembly on 10 August.[5]

Electoral system

The 250 members of the National Assembly are elected by proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency with a 5% electoral threshold (with the percentages calculated including the invalid and blank votes cast), although the threshold is disregarded for coalitions representing ethnic minorities. Seats are allocated using the d'Hondt method.[6]

Campaign

In November 2014 Dveri and the Democratic Party of Serbia declared that they would contest the elections as the "Patriotic Bloc" alliance.[7] In January 2015 PULS and SLS also joined the bloc.[8]

On 19 February 2016, the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS) decided to leave the coalition with SPS, and sign an agreement with SNS,[9] as did the SDPS.[10]

DS, SDS and the LDP agreed to form a coalition called "Democratic Serbia - DS-LDP-SDS", with Dragoljub Mićunović as the leader.[11] However, on 28 February DS leader Bojan Pajtić said that his party would not join the SDS and the LDP in a pre-election coalition.[12]

Electoral lists

The Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) published an official list of competing parties and coalitions.[13]

# Ballot name Ballot carrier Main ideology Political position Note
1
Aleksandar Vučić Populism Big tent
2
Bojan Pajtić Social democracy Centre-left
3
Ivica Dačić Populism Big tent
4
  • Dr Vojislav Šešelj – Serbian Radical Party[17]
  • SRS
 Vojislav Šešelj Ultranationalism Far-right
5
Sanda Rašković Ivić Conservatism Right-wing to
far-right
6
Bálint Pásztor Minority interests Centre-right
M
7
Nenad Čanak Social democracy Centre-left
8
  • Muamer Zukorlić – Bosniak Democratic Union of Sandžak[21]
  • BDZS
 Muamer Zukorlić Minority interests
M
9
  • Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak – Dr Sulejman Ugljanin[21]
  • SDAS
 Sulejman Ugljanin Minority interests Right-wing
M
10
Božidar Zečević Ultranationalism Far-right
11
  • Citizen's Group "For Serbia's Revival" – Prof Dr Slobodan Komazec[23]
  • ZSP
 Jovan Deretić Conspiracy theorism Right-wing
12
  • Russian Party – Slobodan Nikolić[24]
  • RS
 Slobodan Nikolić National conservatism Right-wing
13
  • Republican Party – Nikola Sandulović[25]
  • RS
 Nikola Sandulović Minority interests
M
14
  • Serbo-Russian Movement – Slobodan Dimitrijević[26]
  • IA, SL, SDF, PV, ML
 Dragan Todorović National conservatism Right-wing
15
  • Borko Stefanović – Serbia for all of us[27]
  • SL, PZP, SDU, NPA
 Borko Stefanović Social democracy Centre-left
16
  • Dialogue – Youth with a stance – Stanko Debeljaković[28]
  • Dialogue
 Stanko Debeljaković Liberalism Centre
17
  • Enough is Enough – Restart – Saša Radulović[29]
  • DJB
 Saša Radulović Social liberalism Centre
18
  • Party for Democratic Action – Ardita Sinani[30]
  • PDD
 Ardita Sinani Minority interests Centre-right
M
19
Goran Čabradi Minority interests Centre-left
M
20
  • Out of Spite – United for Serbia – National Alliance[31]
  • TS, NM
 Vladan Glišić National conservatism Far-right

M — National minority list

Opinion polls

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Serbia is Winning (SNS–SDPS–PUPS–NS–SPO–PS–PSS–NSS–SNP)1,823,14749.71131–39
SPS–JS–ZS413,77011.2829–4
Serbian Radical Party306,0528.3422+22
Enough is Enough227,6266.2116+16
For a Just Serbia (DS–NS–RS–DSHV–ZZS–ZZŠ)227,5896.2016–5
Dveri–Democratic Party of Serbia190,5305.1913+13
Alliance for a Better Serbia (LDP–LSV–SDS)189,5645.1713–2
VMSZ–VMDP56,6201.544–2
Serbia for All of Us (PLS–PZP–NUPS–SDU)35,7100.970New
Bosniak Democratic Union of Sandžak32,5260.892+2
Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak30,0920.822–1
For A Free Serbia – Oathkeepers27,6900.750New
Green Party23,8900.651New
Out of spite – United for Serbia – National Alliance17,5280.480New
Party for Democratic Action16,2620.441–1
Russian Party13,7770.3800
Citizen's Group – For Serb Revival13,2600.360New
Serbo-Russian Movement10,0160.270New
Dialogue – Youth with a Stance7,7440.210New
Republican Party4,5220.120New
Total3,667,915100.002500
Valid votes3,667,91597.06
Invalid/blank votes111,0082.94
Total votes3,778,923100.00
Registered voters/turnout6,739,44156.07
Source: RIK

Aftermath

After the polls closed, it soon became clear that the Serbian Progressive Party would maintain its absolute majority in the Assembly, albeit with a smaller number of MPs, and that their partners, the Socialist Party of Serbia, would maintain their standing. However, the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) and organizations monitoring the election (such as CeSID) were cautious about the results of most other lists, as they hovered around the 5% threshold. For a while, it looked as if all seven main contestants would pass the threshold, but as the Commission published the final results on Thursday 28 April, the DSS-Dveri coalition ended up a single vote short. Tensions ran high, as the participants started to accuse each other and the Commission of fraud, which along with demolition of Savamala resulted in start of protests.[32][33] Still, there were additional 18,000 votes to share, as voting had to be repeated at 15 polling stations due to irregularities.[34] In the re-run held on 4 May, DSS–Dveri comfortably won the required number of votes and ended up with 5.03% of the electorate.[32] The Electoral Commission released the final results of the election on Thursday 5 May.

Vučić announced formation of the new government by early June.[2] He stated that the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians were the only certain partners in the cabinet, and remained ambiguous about the future cooperation with the Socialist Party of Serbia, the coalition partners in the previous government, hinting that he will "certainly not form a government with someone who can't wait to stab him in the back."[3]

Constitutive session of the new parliament was held on 3 June. Maja Gojković of Serbian Progressive Party was re-elected president, and six vice-presidents from major parliamentary clubs were elected. The seventh vice-presidential seat, reserved for Enough is Enough, was left unfilled after the movement refused to propose their candidate despite previous agreement.[35]

Formation of the new government, however, took much longer than announced. On 23 July PM-designate Aleksandar Vučić said he was not ruling out the possibility that Serbia's government could be "formed by somebody else at his proposal", stating that "we have problems, this is not about some kind of whim", but without elaborating the details.[36] Fueled by hints from Vučić and statements made by his associates, media started speculating on external pressures, pointing at Western and Russian attempts to influence personal solutions in the new cabinet.[37] President Nikolić expressed "full understanding" that the government had not been formed yet, and stated that the only important thing is that the constitutional deadlines [three months from constitution of the Assembly] are met.[38]

Vučić announced the new cabinet on 8 August, consisting of eight old and eight new ministers, retaining a coalition with the Socialist Party.[4] The government was approved by the National Assembly on 10 August.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Nikolić raspisao izbore: Želim da pobedi SNS". B92. 4 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Vučić najavio formiranje vlade u junu". 25 April 2016. Archived from the original on August 2, 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Vucic says he won't form government with "backstabbers"". B92. 29 April 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Objavljen sastav nove Vlade, osam novih imena". N1. 8 August 2016.
  5. 1 2 "New Serbian government gets parliament approval". Reuters. 11 August 2016.
  6. ↑ Electoral system IPU
  7. ↑ DSS i Dveri formirali patriotski blok RTS, 18 November 2014
  8. ↑ Uz DSS i Dveri sada i PULS i SLS Blic, 30 January 2015
  9. ↑ Pensioner party leaves coalition with Socialists B92, 19 February 2016
  10. ↑ SNS IDE NA IZBORE SA SDPS Blic, 25 January 2016
  11. ↑ Dogovor opozicije - na izbore na jednoj listi B92, 27 Feb 2016
  12. ↑ Opposition parties won't form single list for elections B92, 29 Feb 2016
  13. ↑ "Изборне листе" (in Serbian). RIK. 5 March 2016. Archived from the original on 27 April 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  14. ↑ Proglašena prva lista Mondo/Tanjug, 06.03.2016
  15. ↑ Proglašena lista "Za pravednu Srbiju" - Demokratska stranka Blic, 06.03.2016
  16. ↑ Koalicija oko SPS predala RIK-u izbornu listu B92, 08.03.2016
  17. ↑ Četvrti na glasačkom listiću Kurir, 10.03.2016
  18. ↑ RIK proglasila izbornu listu DSS-a i Dveri RTS, 11.03.2016
  19. ↑ RIK proglasio izbornu listu SVM - I. Pastor RTV, 12.03.2016
  20. ↑ Proglašena lista koalicije LDP-LSV-SDS Blic, 14.03.2016
  21. 1 2 Proglašene još tri liste, prošao i Ugljanin Mondo, 18.03.2016
  22. ↑ Proglašena izborna lista Za Slobodnu Srbiju - Zavetnici Večernje Novosti, 28.03.2016
  23. ↑ Commission announces final collective election list
  24. ↑ RIK proglasio Izbornu listu Ruska stranka B92, 05.04.2016
  25. ↑ RIK proglasio izbornu listu Republikanska stranka B92, 06.04.2016
  26. ↑ Proglašena lista Srpsko ruski pokret B92, 07.04.2016
  27. ↑ Borislav Stefanović i Janko Veselinović na zajedničkoj listi RTS, 16.03.2016
  28. ↑ Proglašena i lista "Dijalog" Mondo, 09.04.2016
  29. ↑ RIK: Proglašeno 18 izbornih lista B92, 09.04.2016
  30. ↑ PDD, jedina manjinska partija Albanaca na izborima B92, 12.04.2016
  31. 1 2 RIK proglasio 21. listu, odbačena "Tolerancija" B92, 12.04.2016
  32. 1 2 Saša Dragojlo (5 May 2016). "Serbian Right-Wingers Win Seats in Poll Re-Run". Balkan Insight.
  33. ↑ "IGRA ŽIVACA: DSS-Dveri ispod cenzusa za JEDAN GLAS" [Game of nerves: DSS-Dveri below the threshold for one vote]. Blic. 29 April 2016.
  34. ↑ "18.000 BIRAČA PONOVO NA GLASANJE Poništeni izbori na ukupno 15 biračkih mesta, neizvesna sudbina dve liste". Blic. 27 April 2016.
  35. ↑ "Maja Gojković na čelu parlamenta". Večernje Novosti. 6 June 2016.
  36. ↑ "Vucic says "someone else" may have to form new government". B92. 25 July 2016.
  37. ↑ "Pritisci sa istoka i zapada: Evo zašto Vučić već 3 meseca ne formira vladu" [Pressures from West and East: Here's Why Vučić Hasn't Formed The New Government for Three Months]. Radio Free Europe/Newsweek Serbia. 26 July 2016. Archived from the original on 27 July 2016.
  38. ↑ "Nikolić: Vučić poštuje rokove, vlada će biti formirana na vreme". Večernje Novosti. 10 July 2016.
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