2007 Serbian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 21 January 2007 to elect members of the National Assembly.[1][2] The first session of the new National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia was held on 14 February 2007. The elections enabled the coalition of DS; DSS & G17+ to continue.

2007 Serbian parliamentary election

21 January 2007

All 250 seats in the National Assembly
126 seats needed for a majority
Turnout60.64%
Party Leader % Seats ±
SRS Tomislav Nikolić 28.60 81 -1
DS Boris Tadić 22.71 64 +38
DSSNSJS Vojislav Koštunica 16.55 47 -15
G17 Plus Mlađan Dinkić 6.82 19 -12
SPS Ivica Dačić 5.64 16 -6
LDPGSSSDULSV Čedomir Jovanović 5.31 15 +8
VMSZ József Kasza 1.30 3 +3
List for Sandžak Sulejman Ugljanin 0.84 2 0
URSR Rajko Đurić 0.42 1 New
KSLP Riza Halimi 0.42 1 New
Roma Party Srđan Šajn 0.36 1 New
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Results by district
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Vojislav Koštunica
DSS
Vojislav Koštunica
DSS

Electoral system

The d'Hondt method was used to distribute parliamentary mandates following the election. Parties and coalitions had 10 days following the announcement of the final results to decide which candidates will take their allotted seats in parliament. Parties then had three months to negotiate a government.

Parties registering as ethnic minority parties (options 8, 10, 14, 17, 19 and 20) did not need to surpass the 5% threshold to gain seats in the parliament, but instead needed to pass a natural threshold at 0.4%. For the first time in a decade, Albanian parties from the Preševo Valley participated in the elections, but Kosovo Albanian parties continued their boycott of Serbian elections.

6,652,105 voters were eligible to vote, an increase of 14,000 voters when compared to the constitutional referendum held a few months before. 31,370 of the eligible voters were living abroad, and 7,082 were in prison.[3]

Campaign

Twenty party lists registered with the electoral commission before the deadline of 5 January 2007:

  1. Democratic Party - its list also included the Sanjak Democratic Party, the Democratic League of Croats in Vojvodina and the People's Democratic Party of Vojvodina, a Bunjevci political party. Candidates on the list were members of national Councils of the Slovak and Bunjevci national minorities as well. It promised SDP up to six seats, three guaranteed in the election. It proposed members for all 250 seats, with Ružica Đinđić, widow of former Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, as the first, followed by the party's head and President of Serbia Boris Tadić. The Party for Sanjak also supported this list. After winning 64 seats, it transferred 3 seats to SDP and 1 to DSHV, as per the agreement.
  2. G17 Plus - led by Mlađan Dinkić
  3. Liberal Democratic PartyCivic Alliance of SerbiaSocial Democratic UnionLeague of Social Democrats of Vojvodina - the list also included prominent intellectuals of the Serbian society, including members of Christian Democratic Party of Serbia. The coalition leader was Čedomir Jovanović. Of its 14 seats, 5 went to LDP, 4 to GSS, 1 to GSS, which together formed a group with 1 from DHSS. LSV formed a separate parliamentary club with its 4 seats.
  4. Serbian Radical Party - led by Vojislav Šešelj
  5. Democratic Party of SerbiaNew Serbia - the list also included United Serbia and Serbian Democratic Renewal Movement. It was led by Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica. Of the 47 seats won, 33 went to DSS, 10 to NS and 2 to each of SDPO and JS.
  6. Strength of Serbia Movement - led by Bogoljub Karić
  7. Serbian Renewal Movement - became a candidate party under on 4 December 2006 at 11:30am after accumulating 17,024 electoral signers. Headed by the temporary Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Drašković, it failed to pass the election threshold. The list included members of the Serbian List for the Return of Property, People's Peasant Party (of Marijan Rističević), Liberals of Serbia (represented by Radivoje Lazarević and Žarko Jokanović) and the Movement I Live for Krajina. The list's bearer is partial president Vuk Drašković followed by the vice-presidents of the party - Vlajko Senić, Srđan Srećković, Sanja Čeković, Žika Gojković and Mirko Čikiriz.
  8. Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians - led by József Kasza
  9. Party of United Pensioners of Serbia–Social Democratic Party - the SDP of Nebojša Čović ran in the election together with PUPS led by Jovan Krkobabić. The Party of United Pensioners of Serbia was supposed to get the greatest share of the coalition's seats. The Socialist People's Party was on this list as well.
  10. List for Sanjak - led by Sulejman Ugljanin, it included the Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak the Bosniak Democratic Party of Sandžak, the Reformist Party of Sanjak, the Social Liberal Party of Sandžak and the Social Democratic Party of Sanjak
  11. Socialist Party of Serbia
  12. Branko Pavlović — "Because it has to be better"
  13. Vojvodina parties - led by Igor Kurjački, it included the Vojvodina Party, the Civic Movement of Vojvodina, Our Vojvodina, the Srem Party, the Party of small shareholders, pensioners, unemployed and the Party of Pensioners and Workers of Serbia.
  14. Roma Union of Serbia - led by Rajko Đurić, it also included members of Vlachs of Democratic Serbia
  15. Reformist Party - led by Aleksandar Višnjić
  16. Democratic Community of Serbia - led by Obren Joksimović and supported by the Party of the Disabled
  17. Albanian Coalition from Preševo Valley - a coalition of Riza Halimi's Democratic Action Party and Skender Destani's Democratic Union of the Valley, two local ethnic Albanian parties from the Preševo Valley. The other two regional Albanian national minority parties were previously a part of the coalition, but changed their opinions later and called on Preševan Albanians to boycott the elections.
  18. Social Democracy - ran together with the Socialdemocratic Party, the Cultural Movement of Serbia and the Serbian Kosovo-Metohijan Party on its list, headed by Nenad Vukasović.
  19. Coalition Hungarian Union - led by András Ágoston and Pál Sándor, and included the Democratic Party of Vojvodina Hungarians, the Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians and the 64 Counties youth movement.
  20. Roma Party - led by Srđan Šajn

Slogans

The parties' campaign slogans for the 2007 election:

  Party English slogan Serbian slogan
    Democratic Party Because life can't waitZato što život ne može da čeka
Зато што живот не може да чека
    G17 Plus Expertise before politicsStručnost ispred politike
Стручност испред политике
    Liberal-Democratic Party-Civic Alliance of Serbia-Social Democratic Union-League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina It depends on usOd nas zavisi
Од нас зависи
    Serbian Radical Party So that things become better already todayDa već danas bude bolje
Да већ данас буде боље
    Democratic Party of Serbia / New Serbia Long live SerbiaŽivela Srbija
Живела Србија
    Strength of Serbia Movement Serbia has strengthSrbija ima snage
Србија има снаге
    Serbian Renewal Movement It's worth fighting forVredi se boriti
Вреди се борити
    Socialist Party of Serbia Serbia, Chin UpSrbijo, glavu gore
Србијо, главу горе
    Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians New chanceNova šansa
Új esély (*)
    List for Sandžak For Sandžak in European SerbiaZa Sandžak u evropskoj Srbiji
За Санџак у европској Србији
    Albanian Coalition from Preševo Valley For better life of Albanians in Preševo ValleyZa bolji život Albanaca u Preševskoj dolini
За бољи живот Албанаца у Прешевској долини

The change figure for the Democratic Party of Serbia/New Serbia list is in comparison to the 2003 result for the Democratic Party of Serbia; New Serbia was aligned to the Serbian Renewal Movement in 2003. The grouping headed by the Liberal Democratic Party is new: the Liberal Democratic Party split off from the Democratic Party in 2005; Civic Alliance of Serbia and the Social Democratic Union were part of the Democratic Party list in 2003; and the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina were in a list with the Alliance of Vojvodina Magyars in 2003. The Coalition List for Sandžak previously stood as part of the Democratic Party list.

Results

The Republican Electoral Commission finally published the final results after the repetition of voting in several places:

Party Votes % Seats +/–
Serbian Radical Party1,153,45328.6081–1
Democratic Party915,85422.7164+41
DSSNSJS667,61516.5547–10
G17 Plus275,0416.8219–12
Socialist Party of Serbia227,5805.6416–6
LDPGSSSDULSVDHSS214,2625.3115+8
SPONSSLS134,1473.330–13
Party of United Pensioners of Serbia—Social Democratic Party125,3243.110–3
Strength of Serbia Movement70,7271.750New
Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians52,5101.303+3
List for Sandžak33,8230.8420
Roma Union of Serbia17,1280.421New
Albanian Coalition from Preševo Valley16,9730.421New
Branko Pavlović — "Because it has to be better"15,7220.390New
Roma Party14,6310.361New
Hungarian Union12,9400.320New
Vojvodina parties7,3590.180New
Democratic Community of Serbia5,4380.130New
Social Democracy4,9090.1200
Reformist Party1,8810.050New
Invalid/blank votes66,269
Total4,033,5861002500
Registered voters/turnout6,652,10560.6
Vote share
SRS
28.60%
DS
22.71%
DSS-NS-JS
16.55%
G17+
6.82%
SPS
5.64%
LDP coalition
5.31%
Others
14.39%
Parliament Seats
SRS
32.40%
DS
25.60%
DSS-NS-JS
18.80%
G17+
7.60%
SPS
6.40%
LDP coalition
6.00%
Minorities
3.20%

This election resulted in a Gallagher index of 8.69, which measures disproportionality of votes received and seats allocated to each party.

  SRS  (81)
  DS   (64)
  DSSNSJS  (47)
  G17 Plus  (19)
  SPS  (16)
  LDPGSSSDULSV  (15)

Reactions

  • Dutch foreign minister Ben Bot congratulated Boris Tadić with the result, stating "the fact that Mr. Tadić has doubled his position in the parliament is of great importance, since it means that the Serbian people value a "pro-European" course".[4]
  • EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana stated "The majority voted for forces that are democratic and pro-European", continuing "I hope very much there will be a speedy formation of a government that will be on the line of "pro-European" forces."[4]
  • German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said "The radicals got most votes but nevertheless two thirds of the seats in parliament will go to "democratic" forces."[4]
  • Michael C. Polt, US ambassador to Serbia, congratulated Serbian people on results, stating that "the United States looks forward to continuing to work with you and your leadership as your country fulfills the promise of October 2000".[5]
  • Jean Asselborn, Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg, stated that EU should show support to Serbia, after "democratic" forces won the elections, as NATO did when Serbia was invited to join "Partnership for Peace" despite not cooperating with the ICTY.[6]
  • Sergey Baburin, Vice-president of the Russian State Duma stated “the parties to form the government will soon hear Martti Ahtisaari’s recommendations for the settlement of the Kosovo issue, and I deem their position unenviable. In my opinion, parties are making a big mistake by not letting Serbian Radicals partake in the government. Patriotic parties in Serbia are getting potentially stronger”.[6]

References

  1. "Serbian President Calls Early Elections". Retrieved 2007-01-21.
  2. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1715 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  3. "6,652,105 citizens eligible to vote". Retrieved 2007-01-21.
  4. "Solana puts brave face on results". CNN. January 22, 2007. Archived from the original on January 29, 2007.
  5. "International reactions to election results". B92. January 22, 2007. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007.
  6. "Reakcije iz sveta na ishod izbora". B92. January 22, 2007.
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