2007 Serbian parliamentary election

2007 Serbian parliamentary election

21 January 2007
All 250 seats in the National Assembly 126 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	60.61% 1.87 pp
Party Leader % Seats +/– SRS Tomislav Nikolić 29.07 81 −1 DS Boris Tadić 23.08 64 +38 DSS–NS Vojislav Koštunica 16.83 47 −15 G17+ Mlađan Dinkić 6.93 19 −12 SPS Ivica Dačić 5.74 16 −6 LDP–GSS–SDU–LSV Čedomir Jovanović 5.40 15 +8 Minority lists VMSZ József Kasza 1.32 3 +3 LZS Sulejman Ugljanin 0.85 2 0 URS Rajko Đurić 0.43 1 New KSLP Riza Halimi 0.43 1 New RP Srđan Šajn 0.37 1 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results by municipalities   SRS   DS   DSS–NS   G17+   SPO   VMSZ   LZS Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Vojislav Koštunica DSS Vojislav Koštunica DSS

Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 21 January 2007 to elect members of the National Assembly. 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.

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.

Electoral lists

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

#	Ballot name		Ballot carrier	Main ideology	Political position	Note
1		Democratic Party – Boris Tadić DS, DSHV, SDP, NDSV, BNS, NSSNM	Ružica Đinđić	Social liberalism	Centre to centre-left
2		G17 Plus – Mlađan Dinkić G17+	Mlađan Dinkić	Liberal conservatism	Centre-right
3		Liberal Democratic Party – Civic Alliance of Serbia – Social Democratic Union – League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina – Čedomir Jovanović LDP, GSS, SDU, LSV, DHSS	Čedomir Jovanović	Liberalism	Centre
4		Serbian Radical Party – dr Vojislav Šešelj SRS	Vojislav Šešelj	Ultranationalism	Far-right
5		Democratic Party of Serbia – New Serbia – dr Vojislav Koštunica DSS, NS, JS, SDPO	Vojislav Koštunica	Conservatism	Right-wing
6		Strength of Serbia Movement – Bogoljub Karić PSS	Milanka Karić	Conservatism	Centre-right
7		Serbian Renewal Movement – Vuk Drašković SPO, LS, NSS, ŽZK, SLPS	Vuk Drašković	Liberalism	Centre-right
8		Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians – József Kasza VMSZ/SVM	József Kasza	Minority politics	Centre-right	M
9		Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS) – dr Jovan Krkobabić and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) – dr Nebojša Čović PUPS, SDP, SNP	Jovan Krkobabić	Social democracy	Centre-left
10		Coalition List for Sandžak dr Sulejman Ugljanin SDAS, SLPS, BDSS, RS, SDSS	Sulejman Ugljanin	Minority politics	Centre	M
11		Socialist Party of Serbia SPS	Ivica Dačić	Democratic socialism	Left-wing
12		Branko Pavlović – Because it has to be better ZŠMB	Branko Pavlović	Youth politics	Centre
13		Coalition "Vojvodina Parties" – mr Igor Kurjački VP, VGP, NV, SS, SMAPN, PRRS	Dušica Karabenč	Vojvodina autonomism	Left-wing
14		Roma Union of Serbia – dr Rajko Đurić URS, VDS	Rajko Đurić	Minority politics	Centre	M
15		Reformist Party – dr Aleksandar Višnjić RS	Aleksandar Višnjić	Reformism	Centre
16		Democratic Community of Serbia – dr Obren Joksimović DZS, PI	Obren Joksimović	Right-wing populism	Far-right
17		Albanian Coalition of Preševo Valley PVD/PDD, BDL/DUV	Riza Halimi	Minority politics	Centre-right	M
18		Social Democracy – Nenad Vukasović SD, SDS, KPS, SKMS	Vuk Obradović	Social democracy	Centre-left
19		Coalition Hungarian Union – András Ágoston – Sándor Páll VMDP/DSVM, VMDK/DZVM, HVIM/OP64Ž	Gyula László	Minority politics		M
20		Roma Party – Srđan Šajn RP	Srđan Šajn	Minority politics		M

Campaign

Slogans

The parties' campaign slogans for the 2007 election:

	Party	English slogan	Serbian slogan
	Democratic Party	Because life can't wait	Zato što život ne može da čeka Зато што живот не може да чека
	G17 Plus	Expertise before politics	Stručnost ispred politike Стручност испред политике
	Liberal-Democratic Party-Civic Alliance of Serbia-Social Democratic Union-League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina	It depends on us	Od nas zavisi Од нас зависи
	Serbian Radical Party	So that things become better already today	Da već danas bude bolje Да већ данас буде боље
	Democratic Party of Serbia / New Serbia	Long live Serbia	Živela Srbija Живела Србија
	Strength of Serbia Movement	Serbia has strength	Srbija ima snage Србија има снаге
	Serbian Renewal Movement	It's worth fighting for	Vredi se boriti Вреди се борити
	Socialist Party of Serbia	Serbia, Chin Up	Srbijo, glavu gore Србијо, главу горе
	Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians	New chance	Nova šansa Új esély (*)
	List for Sandžak	For Sandžak in European Serbia	Za Sandžak u evropskoj Srbiji За Санџак у европској Србији
	Albanian Coalition from Preševo Valley	For better life of Albanians in Preševo Valley	Za 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 Hungarians 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 Party	1,153,453	29.07	81	–1
	Democratic Party coalition	915,854	23.08	64	+41
	Democratic Party of Serbia − New Serbia coalition	667,615	16.83	47	–10
	G17 Plus	275,041	6.93	19	–12
	Socialist Party of Serbia	227,580	5.74	16	–6
	Liberal Democratic Party coalition	214,262	5.40	15	+8
	Serbian Renewal Movement coalition	134,147	3.38	0	–13
	PUPS − SDP	125,342	3.16	0	–3
	Strength of Serbia Movement	70,727	1.78	0	New
	Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians	52,510	1.32	3	+3
	List for Sandžak	33,823	0.85	2	0
	Roma Union of Serbia	17,128	0.43	1	New
	Albanian Coalition of Preševo Valley	16,973	0.43	1	New
	Branko Pavlović — Because it has to be better	15,722	0.40	0	New
	Roma Party	14,631	0.37	1	New
	Hungarian Union Coalition	12,940	0.33	0	New
	Vojvodina Parties	7,359	0.19	0	New
	Democratic Community of Serbia	5,438	0.14	0	New
	Social Democracy	4,909	0.12	0	0
	Reformist Party	1,881	0.05	0	New
Total		3,967,335	100.00	250	0
Valid votes		3,967,335	98.38
Invalid/blank votes		65,468	1.62
Total votes		4,032,803	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,653,851	60.61
Source: Republican Electoral Commission

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".
• 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."
• 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."
• 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".
• 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.
• 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”.

External links

• Republican Electoral Commission of the Republic of Serbia