2012 Serbian parliamentary election


Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 6 May 2012 to elect members of the National Assembly, and were held simultaneously with provincial, local, and presidential elections.

Background

The 2008 election resulted in the formation of a new pro-European government on 7 July 2008, with the necessary parliamentary votes coming from President Boris Tadić's For a European Serbia list, and the coalition of the Socialist Party of Serbia, the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia and United Serbia, plus six out of the seven minorities representatives. The new government elected Mirko Cvetković as Prime Minister.
The opposition, the Serbian Radical Party, had a split after the elections. The Serbian Progressive Party party broke off and is headed by Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić, both of whom were major figures in the SRS before the establishment of the SNS in late 2008. In most opinion polls they and Democratic Party remain the two most popular parties, in combination gaining at least 60 percent of the total vote when combined. Other parties remain far behind, struggling to even attain double digit popularity figures.
In early 2011, according to the Democratic Party's strategic marketing polls, the opposition SNS had higher ratings than the next three most popular parties combined. The opposition attempted to promote early elections to take place in 2011. Major opposition rallies in February 2011 focused on the cited difficult socioeconomic conditions as well as widespread corruption. The protesters' goal was to hold the elections earlier, in the Fall of 2011. The protests did not succeed in affecting the date of the elections, which are to be held on 6 May 2012. At least 50,000 to 70,000 attended the peaceful protests held on streets of Belgrade organised by SNS, the strongest among the country's opposition bloc.
In fall 2011, posters and billboards endorsing various parties peppered Belgrade. The election campaigns of many parties are well under way, despite the election date having been set for the first half of 2012.

Participating parties/lists

There were 18 registered electoral lists for the 2012 parliamentary elections:
  1. Choice For A Better Life – Boris Tadić
A coalition formed around the Democratic Party together with the Social Democratic Party of Serbia, the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina, the Greens of Serbia, the Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina and the Christian Democratic Party of Serbia.
  1. Serbian Radical Party – Vojislav Šešelj
Serbian Radical Party is running alone in this election for the first time after party split, following the last parliamentary election in 2008. Their list is led by party leader Dr Vojislav Šešelj, who is an anti-communist currently on trial for alleged war crimes and is suspected of being involved in crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
  1. United Regions of Serbia – Mlađan Dinkić
Coalition formed around the G17 Plus party. Among the members of this coalition are Together for Šumadija, People's Party and several other, mostly regional political parties and movements. Leader of the list is Mlađan Dinkić.
  1. Turnover – Čedomir Jovanović
Coalition formed by Liberal Democratic Party, Serbian Renewal Movement, Social Democratic Union, Rich Serbia, Vojvodina's Party, Democratic Party of Sandžak, Green Ecological Party and The Party of Bulgarians from Serbia. It is also supported by the Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions. Leader of the list is Čedomir Jovanović.
  1. Let's Get Serbia Moving – Tomislav Nikolić
Coalition formed around the Serbian Progressive Party with New Serbia, Movement of Socialists, Strength of Serbia Movement, Serbian Association of Small and Medium Companies and Entrepreneurs, Association of Refugees in Serbia, People's Peasant Party, Bosniak People's Party, Democratic Party of Macedonians, Roma Party, Vlach Unity Movement and Economic Renewal of Serbia. Leader of the list is Tomislav Nikolić.
  1. Democratic Party of Serbia – Vojislav Koštunica
The Democratic Party of Serbia competed independently in the election. Leader of the list is Vojislav Koštunica.
  1. Ivica Dačić – "Socialist Party of Serbia, Party of United Pensioners of Serbia, United Serbia "
Coalition consisting of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Party of United Pensioners of Serbia and United Serbia. The Serbian Veteran Movement was the minor part of the coalition. Leader of the list is Ivica Dačić.
  1. Dveri - For The Life Of Serbia
List of independent candidates affiliated with nationalist and Eurosceptic organization Dveri. This is the first time they run for the Parliament. Leader of the list is Branimir Nešić.
  1. Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians – István Pásztor M
Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians is first national minority list on this election. Leader of the list is son of party president István Pásztor, Bálint Pásztor.
  1. Reformist Party – Milan Višnjić
Reformist Party is local party from Niš. Leader of the list and also a candidate for Mayor of Niš is Prof. Dr Milan Višnjić.
  1. Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak – Sulejman Ugljanin M
The Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak is a Bosniak national minority list on this election. Leader of the list is Sulejman Ugljanin.
  1. Movement of Workers and Peasants
The list of independent candidates affiliated with Citizen's Group Movement of Workers and Peasants. The list was led by Zoran Dragišić.
  1. Social Democratic Alliance – Nebojša Leković
The Social Democratic Alliance party ran independently. List leader is party president Nebojša Leković.
  1. All Together – BDU, CAH, DUC, DFVH, Slovak Party – Emir Elfić M
All Together is a coalition of five minority parties - Bosniak Democratic Union, Civil Alliance of Hungarians, Democratic Union of Croats, Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians and the Slovak Party. Leader of the list is president of Bosniak Democratic Union, Emir Elfić.
  1. Albanian Coalition of Preševo Valley M

  1. Montenegrin Party – Nenad Stevović M

  1. Communist Party - Josip Broz

  1. None of The Above M

M — national minority list - the minimum threshold for these lists is 0.4% of the vote, compared to 5% for the others.

Opinion polls

Conduct

The Center for Free Elections and Democracy was amongst the electoral observers. CeSID was also an election monitor.

Results

About 6.7 million people were eligible to vote in the elections. The OSCE undertook the organisation of voting for the roughly 109,000 Serb voters in Kosovo. Voting stations were open from 7:00 to 20:00 with no incidents reported across the country. Voter turnout by 18:00 was 46.34% in Belgrade, 48.37% in central Serbia and 47.89% in Vojvodina. Voter turnout in Kosovo was 32%.
This election resulted in a Gallagher index of 12.85, which measures disproportionality of votes received and seats allocated to each party.

Involvement of the United States

In April 2012, Rudy Giuliani lobbied for Aleksandar Vučić in his candidacy for mayor of Belgrade. The US Embassy to Serbia released a statement saying that Giuliani's appearance did not represent the United States endorsing any candidate in Serbia's parliamentary upcoming election. Dragan Đilas, the incumbent mayor, responded to Giuliani's appearance, saying "Giuliani should not speak about Belgrade's future as a man who supported the bombing of Serbia."
On July 3, 2012, the United States' Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Philip Reeker, conducted undisclosed discussions with Mlađan Dinkić of the URS party in his first day there. When a journalist from B92 asked him what his mission in Serbia was, he replied that he was visiting "because Belgrade is a beautiful city". Subsequently, URS joined the ruling coalition in the Serbian parliament. At the time, Blic published a series of stories from anonymous diplomatic sources, correctly predicting a coalition with URS and SNS, asserting that Reeker's meetings in Belgrade were intended to ensure that the new ruling coalition involve parties which guarantee the continuation of the Belgrade–Pristina negotiations. Additionally, Blic reported that Vučić was against SPS members leading both the BIA and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and asserted that the United States was in agreement with Vučić in disapproval of SPS controlling both state agencies.