The election were the first since the 2000 elections, after the ousting of Slobodan Milošević's government, that a party won the absolute majority of seats. Aleksandar Vučić announced the formation of a new government with a coalition between the parties the Serbian Progressive Party ran with.[4]
With SNS ratings at an all-time high and growing tension within the ruling coalition, first deputy PM Aleksandar Vučić called for early parliamentary elections to be held.[7] Some analysts believed that Vučić held the most influence in the government.[8] Despite speculation that he would not,[citation needed] prime minister Ivica Dačić agreed to hold early parliamentary elections.[9] On 29 January, President Tomislav Nikolić responded to the calls by dissolving parliament and scheduling early elections for 16 March 2014.[10][11]
Electoral system
The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia is a unicameral parliament with 250 seats. The entire country is a single whole electoral unit, with all votes accumulated together and then MPs allocated in accordance to the D'Hondt method. The electoral threshold is set at 5%. However, electoral lists that are officially submitted as aiming to represent one of the country's registered national minorities have no barrage set. That means that, according to the valid electoral law, such a list needs to win 0.4% of the total votes in order to secure its 1st MP seat.[12]
Despite the rejection of the KosovanAlbanians and in context of the Kosovo problem, voting was still organized on the territory of Kosovo, as per UNSCR 1244 (1999) and the Kumanovo Technical Agreement. Voting in Kosovo was handled, and not just seen, by the OSCE.[13]
A total of 8,262 voting stations were prepared on Serbian territory (excluding Kosovo).[14] On 1 March the RIK declared that in Serbia there was a total of 6,767,324 eligible voters, which was some twelve thousand less than in 2012.[15] The RIK subsequently formed 90 voting stations for the disputed territory of Kosovo.[16]
The Strength of Serbia Movement was a coalition partner in the previous election, but did not officially participate in 2014. Candidates from the party were still included in the coalition's lists.[20] Both the Coalition of Refugee Associations in the Republic of Serbia[21] and the People's Peasant Party were also not official coalition partners, but had candidates appear on lists.[22] Of the several parties of national minorities that participated in the coalition in 2012, all broke off cooperation except for the Bosniak People's Party, whose candidates appeared on the list.[23] SNS' list also contains former prominent Social Democrat Ljiljana Nestorović, and architect Branka Bošnjak (previously in the URS).[24]
The Progressives' list was backed in union with SDPS and the Sandžak People's Party, which signed an agreement of endorsement.[25] On 9 February, the Civic Initiative of Gora decided to support SNS,[26] and the next day the Movement of Laborers and Peasants also announced their support.[27] SNS also received endorsement from the Dinara-Drina-Danube Movement,[28] the United Peasant Party,[29] and the Roma Party.[30] Through Rasim Ljajić's mediation, by March the Movement of Frontiersmen and the Diaspora agreed to endorse the electoral list.[31]
Socialist Party of Serbia-lead coalition
The Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) retained their coalition with United Serbia (JS) and the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS). JS leader Dragan Marković announced that JS would ask for participation in the government rather than simply endorsing it like the two previous terms, asking for a minister's position for himself in the future government.[32] The Socialist Party of Serbia did not include the Serbian Veteran Movement as it traditionally did, which broke off in late 2013 due to disagreement over policies regarding Kosovo.
Democratic Party of Serbia
The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) of ex-prime minister Vojislav Koštunica considered forming a Eurosceptic "Patriotic Bloc" with Dveri and possibly the Serbian Radical Party. DSS later stated that it chose not to form a coalition with other parties that expressed interest because it felt that those parties did not fully embrace DSS positions and that they merely wanted to join for the purpose of entering parliament.[33] DSS officially submitted to the Republic Electoral Commission its candidate electoral list on 6 February.[34]
DSS' list contained candidates from the Serbian Veteran Movement,[35] a party that was originally SPS' coalition partner.[36]
DSS' campaign slogan was I know who I believe — the Democratic Party of Serbia (SerbianCyrillic: Знам коме верујем — Демократска странка Србије).[37]
The Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians submitted its electoral list on 8 February, thus becoming the first national minority to do so. SVM leader István Pásztor announced the party's focus was secure the five seats won at the previous election.[45]
This list' electoral slogan was: Both Kosovo and Russia (Serbian: И Косово и Русија, I Kosovo i Rusija), a satire of the "both Kosovo and the EU" doctrine.[50]
As a response to the DLR's coalition with Tadić's New Democratic Party, DS announced the support of 20 Romani NGOs and cultural and public laborers.[52]
New Democratic Party
After former president Boris Tadić broke from the Democratic Party, he announced the formation of the New Democratic Party. For the 2014 election, the party entered a coalition with LSV, ZZS, some Bosniak and Hungarian minority parties and the Greens.[53]
In early February, the Greens of Serbia officially decided to elect Tadić as their leader and merge with NDS, becoming the "New Democratic Party - The Greens".[54] NDS-Greens signed an official coalition treaty mid-February with Together for Serbia (ZZS) and the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV); according to the treaty LSV would receive 6 MPs and ZZS 2, with the option for a 3rd MP for the latter should the common list win more than 10% votes.[55]
Council of Serbian Unity-led Coalition
The Council of Serbian Unity announced the formation of the a coalition with various smaller parties:[56]
Preliminary results showed the Progressive-led coalition winning with 158 seats, while the SPS–PUPS–JS coalition came second with 44, the Democratic-led coalition third with 19 and Boris Tadić's coalition with 18.[58]
Of the minorities, the SVM qualified with six seats, SDA with three seats and the Albanian minority list Party for Democratic Action with 2 seats.
Although SNS alone had the required minimum of 126 seats, it maintained its pre-electoral coalition with SDPS, NS and SPO-DHSS, along with all of the lesser partners such as PS. Dačić noted that there were no discussions of government formation, but that SPS-PUPS-JS was ready to continue on where it left off. Đilas noted that the Democrats excluded any possibility of coalition and that they would have talks merely with President Nikolic, rejecting his call. While all of the three (Hungarian,[59] Bosniak[60] and Albanian[61]) minority parties noted that they would enter the government, Ljajic explicitly noted that SDPS would not be a part of the future ruling coalition if SDA joined it.[62] Tadić considered the Socialists responsible for bad policy so his coalition would not join with the Progressives' if a coalition with the SPS was restored.[63]
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