# 2012 Serbian parliamentary election

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

## Background

The 2008 parliamentary elections 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 (the SPS-PUPS-JS coalition), plus six out of the seven minorities representatives. The new government elected Mirko Cvetković (endorsed by the Democratic Party) as Prime Minister.
The opposition, the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), had a split after the elections. The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) 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 (DS) 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.

## Electoral lists

There were 18 registered electoral lists for the 2012 parliamentary elections:
| # | Ballot name | Ballot carrier | Main ideology | Political position | Note |
| 1 | Choice for a Better Life – Boris TadićDS, SDPS, LSV, ZS, DSHV, DHSS | Dragan Đilas | Social liberalism | Centre to centre-left | |
| 2 | Serbian Radical Party – Dr Vojislav ŠešeljSRS | Vojislav Šešelj | Ultranationalism | Far-right | |
| 3 | United Regions of Serbia – Mlađan DinkićG17+, ZZŠ, NS | Mlađan Dinkić | Liberal conservatism | Centre-right | |
| 4 | Čedomir Jovanović – TurnoverLDP, SPO, SDU, BS, VP, BDSS, ZEP, SBS, ASNS | Čedomir Jovanović | Liberalism | Centre | |
| 5 | Let's Get Serbia Moving – Tomislav NikolićSNS, NS, PS, PSS–BK, NSS, BNS, DPM, RP, APPS, KUIRS, PVJ, EOS | Tomislav Nikolić | Populism | Big tent | |
| 6 | Democratic Party of Serbia – Vojislav KoštunicaDSS | Vojislav Koštunica | National conservatism | Right-wing | |
| 7 | Ivica Dačić – Socialist Party of Serbia – Party of United Pensioners of Serbia – United SerbiaSPS, PUPS, JS, PSV | Ivica Dačić | Populism | Big tent | |
| 8 | Dveri – For the life of SerbiaDveri | Branimir Nešić | Christian right | Far-right | |
| 9 | Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians – István PásztorVMSZ/SVM | Bálint Pásztor | Minority politics | Centre-right | $^M$ |
| 10 | Reformist Party – prof dr Milan VišnjićRS | Aleksandar Višnjić | Reformism | Centre | |
| 11 | Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak – dr Sulejman UgljaninSDAS | Ifeta Radončić | Minority politics | Right-wing | $^M$ |
| 12 | Movement of Workers and PeasantsPRS | Zoran Dragišić | Labourism | Left-wing |
| 13 | Social Democratic Alliance – Nebojša LekovićSDS | Nebojša Leković | Social democracy | Centre-left |
| 14 | All Together: BDZ, GSM, DZH, DZVM, Slovak Party – Emir ElfićBDZ, DZH, VMDK/DZVM, GSM, SP | Emir Elfić | Minority politics | Minority politics | $^M$ |
| 15 | Albanian Coalition of Preševo ValleyPVD/PDD | Riza Halimi | Minority politics | Minority politics | $^M$ |
| 16 | Montenegrin Party – Nenad StevovićCP | Nenad Stevović | Minority politics | Minority politics | $^M$ |
| 17 | Communist Party – Josip BrozKP | Joška Broz | Titoism | Far-left | |
| 18 | None of the AboveNOPO | Nikola Tulimirović | Direct democracy | Centre | |
$^M$ — national minority list - the minimum threshold for these lists is 0.4% of the vote, compared to 5% for the others.

## Conduct

The Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID) 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%.
| | Let's Get Serbia Moving | 940,659 | 25.16 | 73 | +43 |
| | Choice for a Better Life | 863,294 | 23.09 | 67 | –3 |
| | SPS coalition | 567,689 | 15.18 | 44 | +24 |
| | Democratic Party of Serbia | 273,532 | 7.32 | 21 | 0 |
| | U-Turn | 255,546 | 6.83 | 19 | +2 |
| | United Regions of Serbia | 215,666 | 5.77 | 16 | –8 |
| | Serbian Radical Party | 180,558 | 4.83 | 0 | –77 |
| | Dveri for the Life of Serbia | 169,590 | 4.54 | 0 | New |
| | Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians | 68,323 | 1.83 | 5 | +1 |
| | Movement of Workers and Peasants | 57,199 | 1.53 | 0 | New |
| | Communist Party | 28,977 | 0.77 | 0 | New |
| | Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak | 27,708 | 0.74 | 2 | +1 |
| | All Together | 24,993 | 0.67 | 1 | +1 |
| | None of the Above | 22,905 | 0.61 | 1 | New |
| | Social Democratic Alliance | 16,572 | 0.44 | 0 | New |
| | Albanian Coalition of Preševo Valley | 13,384 | 0.36 | 1 | 0 |
| | Reformist Party | 8,867 | 0.24 | 0 | 0 |
| | Montenegrin Party | 3,855 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 3,739,317 | 100.00 | 250 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 3,739,317 | 95.63 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 170,995 | 4.37 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 3,910,312 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 6,770,013 | 57.76 | | |
| Source: Republican Electoral Commission ||||||
* ↑ List included Serbian Progressive Party (58 seats), New Serbia (8), Strength of Serbia Movement (2), Movement of Socialists (1), People's Peasant Party (1), Bosniak People's Party, (1), Roma Party (1) and the Democratic Party of Macedonians (1)
* ↑ List included Democratic Party (49 seats), Social Democratic Party of Serbia (9), League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (3), Christian Democratic Party of Serbia (1), Greens of Serbia (1) and the Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina (1)
* ↑ List included Socialist Party of Serbia (25 seats), Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (12) and United Serbia (7)
* ↑ List included Liberal Democratic Party (13 seats), Serbian Renewal Movement (4), Social Democratic Union (1) and Rich Serbia (1)
* ↑ Seat taken by the Bosniak Democratic Union
* ↑ Seat taken by the Party for Democratic Action

## 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 3 July 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.