Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 21 June 2020. Initially organized for 26 April 2020, they were postponed by a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
In the period before the elections, inter-party European Parliament–mediated dialogue was held and certain changes in election legislation were made. Numerous parliamentary and non-parliamentary political parties boycotted the elections, including the major opposition coalition Alliance for Serbia, which said that there were no conditions for free and fair elections. This resulted in the lowest turnout since the establishment of a multi-party system in 1990.
The Serbian Progressive Party–led coalition won one of the largest parliamentary majorities in Europe. Election observer organizations declared that the elections were conducted efficiently according to minimum democratic standards, but noted some irregularities that affected turnout and results. The OSCE reported that many previous recommendations of the ODIHR were not adopted, at the same time criticizing the lack of freedom in the media.
Background Since Aleksandar Vučić came to power in 2012, Serbia has suffered from democratic backsliding into authoritarianism, followed by a decline in media freedom and civil liberties. In the 2016 parliamentary election, the ruling Serbian Progressive Party-led coalition and the Socialist Party of Serbia-led coalition returned to power, and the incumbent prime minister Vučić was successfully re-elected. However, in the 2017 presidential election, Vučić was elected president, and left the government for his new position. The election result sparked protests around Serbia. Thousands of demonstrators accused Vučić of leading the country towards authoritarianism. An OSCE report criticized unbalanced media coverage during the election campaign, use of public resources to support Vučić and reports of pressure on employees of state-affiliated institutions to support Vučić and secure, in a cascade fashion, support from family members and friends. Ana Brnabić was appointed head of government as a non-partisan politician, becoming Serbia's first female and first openly gay prime minister. Two years later, she joined the ruling Serbian Progressive Party.
In January 2019, Vučić stated that there was a possibility of holding early elections in 2019. Observers noted that this was highly possible, as it would enable the SNS to make electoral gains before having to compromise on unpopular decisions regarding the status of Kosovo, which was expected to hit the party's rating. In May 2019, the European Commission criticized election conditions and expressed a serious concern about press freedom in the Serbia 2019 Report. They also stated that there was a negative impact on the work of democratic institutions, in particular the National Assembly, and that there was an urgent need to create space for genuine cross-party debate and conditions for meaningful participation by the opposition in the parliament.
Anti-government protests
Meanwhile, Vučić was also put under pressure by mass protests in Belgrade and other cities, with the opposition demanding more media freedom, as well as free and fair elections and ministerial resignations. The protests were precipitated by an assault on Borko Stefanović, one of the leaders of the newly formed opposition coalition Alliance for Serbia. These were the largest anti-government protests since Vučić came to power in 2012, with media reports estimating the attendance at protests to be between 25,000 and 70,000 people. Parallel to the protests, Vučić launched the "Future of Serbia" campaign, organizing rallies in all districts of Serbia.
After the largest opposition protest on 13 April, a non-partisan expert group was introduced that later formulated the demands of the protests, concluded there were no conditions for free and fair elections, and eventually drafted a comprehensive document with demands and recommendations. In early September, the protest organizers called for a boycott of the coming election because no recommendation of the expert team had been adopted.
Inter-party negotiations After the unsuccessful conclusion of the negotiations mediated by the University of Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences and NGOs, the first round of inter-party European Parliament-mediated dialogue in Serbia took place in October, which was initiated by David McAllister, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the EP. The Alliance for Serbia refused to participate, stating that there was no time for their demands for fair election conditions to be met before the election in April. In December 2019, following three rounds of dialogue, the EP delegation members announced that conditions for fair and free elections had not been established. After the last round, it was concluded that continued observation of implementation was necessary and it was agreed to move the election as late as possible.
The CeSID stated that changes in electoral legislation on three occasions during the election year were contrary to the Venice Commission's Code of Good Practice in Elections. The decision of the ruling party to lower the electoral threshold from 5% to 3% has been criticized by numerous observers, opposition parties, EP delegation members and Transparency Serbia, stating that it was not a topic of negotiation and that it will help some smaller parties enter parliament after the announced boycott of the largest opposition parties.
Participating parties
After the 2017 presidential elections, Saša Janković, who finished second with 16.3% of the vote, formed the liberal Movement of Free Citizens (PSG) in May 2017. In October 2017, Vuk Jeremić, who finished fourth with 5.6% of the vote, formed his own liberal-conservative People's Party (NS), which cooperated closely with Janković's party.
In June 2018, opposition parties held talks on forming an alliance, which became possible with the election of leadership in the Democratic Party, which was in favor of allying with Dragan Đilas, who was very successful in the Belgrade local election, and the PSG and NS. This alliance of mostly pro-Western and pro-EU parties also included other opposition organizations, regardless of their stance on EU, including the right-wing Dveri, an anti-EU party. The opposition alliance was dubbed by the media and main participants in its formation as Alliance for Serbia (, SZS).
Boycott Almost all opposition parties (except the Democratic Party of Serbia, Serbian Patriotic Alliance and Don't let Belgrade d(r)own) signed the Agreement with People in February 2019, where they promised to boycott the 2020 elections if they were deemed irregular. In addition, in September 2019, the protest organizers called for a boycott of the next election.
The elections were boycotted by several political parties, including the major opposition coalition the Alliance for Serbia (composed of the Democratic Party, Dveri, People's Party, Party of Freedom and Justice, Movement for Reversal, Fatherland and the United Trade Unions "Sloga"), the Civic Platform, as well some extra-parliamentary parties and movements, such as Social Democratic Union and the Do not let Belgrade d(r)own-led Civic Front alliance, which stated that the elections would not be held under fair conditions. Together for Serbia and the Social Democratic Party, also boycotted the parliamentary election, only participating in some elections at the local (municipal) level. Some individual politicians also declared a boycott, such as Đorđe Vukadinović, member of the National Assembly, and Ljubiša Preletačević, who finished third in the 2017 presidential election.
Electoral system The 250 members of the National Assembly are elected by closed-list proportional representation from a single nationwide constituency. Seats are allocated using the d'Hondt method with an electoral threshold of 3% of all votes cast (lowered from 5% at the previous elections) although the threshold is waived for ethnic minority parties.
While some parties choose to contest elections solely in their own name, multi-party coalitions are more common. This allows smaller parties to reach the electoral threshold together, while for larger parties it represents an opportunity to amass support from more diverse sections of the electorate.
Electoral lists The following are the official electoral lists published by the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK).Изборне листе Републичка изборна комисија, 16.06.2020
Ballot name Ballot carrier Main ideology Political position Note Branislav Nedimović Populism Big tent Ivica Dačić Populism Big tent Vojislav Šešelj Ultranationalism Far-right Bálint Pásztor Minority interests Centre-right Aleksandar Šapić National conservatism Right-wing Ljubinko Đurković Monarchism Right-wing Marko Đurišić Social democracy Centre-left Muamer Zukorlić Minority interests Miloš Jovanović National conservatism Right-wing Milan Stamatović National conservatism Right-wing Enis Imamović Minority interests Right-wing Zoran Zečević Ultranationalism Far-right Velimir Ilić Right-wing populism Right-wing Sergej Trifunović Liberalism Centre Saša Radulović Right-wing populism Right-wing Shaip Kamberi Minority interests Centre-right Valentina Reković Liberalism Centre-left Zoran Živković Social liberalism Centre tocentre-left Slobodan Nikolić National conservatism Right-wing Čedomir Jovanović Liberalism Centre Jovana Stojković Neo-fascism Far-right
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Opinion polls The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the leading party's color. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. The lead column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the two parties with the highest figures. When a specific poll does not show a data figure for a party, the party's cell corresponding to that poll is shown with a hyphen (-). If a poll was conducted prior to the establishment of a party, a hyphen is given instead of the result. Poll results use the date the fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. However, if such a date is unknown, the date of publication will be given instead.
The results of the SNS in different polls represent results of the party itself, although it usually runs in a broad coalition, which includes, besides SNS as the largest party, Social Democratic Party of Serbia, Party of United Pensioners of Serbia, New Serbia, Serbian Renewal Movement, Movement of Socialists, Strength of Serbia Movement, Independent Democratic Party of Serbia and Serbian People's Party. SPS formed a longstanding coalition with United Serbia, included in SPS poll results. All polls are conducted excluding Kosovo.
Polls conducted after official start of campaign Polling organization DateSNScoalitionSPS–JSSRSDJBDSScoalitionSPASPSG#1of5mUDSPOKSSSZOthersLeadResults 60.65 10.38 2.05 2.30 2.24 3.83 1.58 0.63 0.95 2.67 1.43 11.7450.27Ipsos19 June58.69.82.52.51.84.43.12.21.62.41.69.548.8Faktor plus18 June60.613.03.62.93.15.13.5–2.82.52.70.245.5NSPM18 June58.012.52.62.93.54.43.50.91.41.81.86.745.5Faktor plus12 June58.212.53.42.83.04.93.4–2.72.42.6–45.7Faktor plus7 June61.013.53.32.63.14.93.61.32.42.12.2–45.2NSPM4 June41.610.72.62.12.14.33.81.01.01.02.125.830.9NSPM24 April41.6103.11.5–3.43.42.52––32.445.7 Election postponed due to coronavirus pandemicFaktor plus09 Mar59.815.13.5–34.82.52.832.12.31.144.7
Polls conducted before official start of campaign Italic text denotes parties and coalitions which declared boycott of the election.