Serbia: Tug of War over Remains of Yugoslavia (I)
The struggle over the future of former Yugoslav lands has entered another decisive period. Part I: Parliamentary Elections in Serbia 2007.
Rudy Weissenbacher - Feb. 01, 2007
In the night to January 26, 2007, the Serbian Electoral Committee (RIK) announced the final results of the Serbian parliamentary elections, the first after the divorce from Montenegro. The Serbian Radical Party (SRS) led by Tomislav Nikolic in absence of Vojislav Šešelj, who is on trial in The Hague, received most of the votes in the Serbian general elections on January 21, 2007. With 1,152,105 votes, it won 81 seats in the Serbian parliament or 28.59% of the Serbian electorate: 4,029,286 or 60.56% of 6,653,851 registered voters. The Democratic Party of President Boris Tadić came second (64 seats), and Premier Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia-New Serbia (47 seats) third. (Serbian Government 2007) The following parties are represented in the newly elected Serbian parliament:
1 Out of a number of 6,653,851 registered voters 4,029,286 or 60.56% participated in the Serbian general elections.
2 The Serbian electoral system concedes minority parties seats in the parliament even if they don't meet the threshold of 5% of the votes.
Source: Government of Serbia
The Madrid-based non-profit organisation FRIDE described the Serbian party system as follows:
"The party system in Serbia is still personality-driven
and remains fragmented. Parties are often defined as
divided between democratic and radical camps; in
practice, divisions are blurred and parties are better
understood as positioned at different points along a
continuum between moderate and nationalist poles." (FRIDE 2007)
The SRS is being described as having tempered its nationalist rhetoric but still exploiting nationalism at the expense of political reform and rapprochement with Europe.
The DS ist said to "attract mainly the young and urban population", to advocate "full and speedy integration into the Euro-Atlantic community", support autonomy for Vojvodina, and show "signs of willingness to accommodate to possible independence for Kosovo". The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS)
"attracts middle ground voters, especially those who admit to some nationalist sentiment but who do not want to vote
for a radical party. Even though the DSS is considered to be within the pro-reform bloc and defines itself as pro-European, its leader has maintained an ambiguous and fluctuating stand on key reform issues and has often played the nationalist card.The DSS split from the DS due to disagreement over the ICTY issue." (FRIDE 2007)
The distribution of seats in the Serbian Parliament shows the difficulty of forming a government without the Radical Party (SRS). In order to reach a majority in the 250 seats parliament, the runner-up Democratic Party of President Boris Tadić needs to form a coalition with Premier Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia-New Serbia (DSS-NS) which came third in the elections plus most likely the liberal G17 Plus of former secretary of treasury Mladjan Dinkić: These three blocks are being portrayed as pro-"Western" and pro-reformist in "Western" media and on part of EU-officials.
Source: Government of Serbia
EU Commends Elections
Despite the success of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), that is dubbed anti-reformist and anti-EU, EU officials displayed positive attitudes towards the election results in the Republic of Serbia. At their Council meeting in Brussels on January 22, 2007, the EU foreign ministers expressed their satisfaction that the elections "were conducted freely and fairly and were on the whole a compliment to the democratic standards that Serbia has reached." Enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn commented: "The reformist forces that share European values achieved a clear parliamentary majority, which should enable them to form a pro-European and reform-oriented government. I look forward to such a government making rapid progress towards the EU". (EU Commission 2007b)
"I am for national unity. Especially in Germany, I think, everybody will understand this. Kosovo counts for 15 percent of our territory, the Serbian church is strong there. Certainly we do not waste a single thought on war or aggressive strategies. But Kosovo shall remain with Serbia." (Frankfurter Rundschau 2007: 5)
Premier Vojislav Kostunica had also strengthened ties to Russia and led his country into the NATO Partnership for Peace. President Boris Tadić signed the accession documents on December 14, 2006. (NATO 2006) Finally on December 19, 2006, Serbia signed the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) that includes "Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia (including Kosovo, as defined in United Nations Security Council resolution 1244)". (EU Commission 2007b) Bulgaria and Romania left CEFTA immediately afterwards with their accession to the EU on January 1, 2007. Although the EU "is not a party, the EU Commission has provided political, technical and financial support throughout the process". EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn called CEFTA "an inevitable part of membership of the European Union". (EU Commission 2007a)
Read in part II: ICTY and War Against Yugoslavia
Sources
European Commission (2006): Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council. Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2006 – 2007. Brussels, September 8, 2006.
European Commission (2007a): Summit signatures on the renewed CEFTA. In: Enlargement Newsletter, January 12, 2007.
European Commission (2007b): EU responds to Serbia's election. In: Enlargement Newsletter, January 26, 2007.
Frankfurter Rundschau (2007): "In sechs bis sieben Jahren in die Europäische Union". Interview with Božidar Djelić. In: Frankfurter Rundschau No. 17, January 20, 2007, p. 5.
FRIDE (2007): Serbia's Election and the Challenges Ahead. Democratic Backgrounder. January 2007.
Government of Serbia (2007): RIK announces final results of parliamentary elections. Beograd. (February 1, 2007)
Mappes-Niediek, Norbert (2007): Kostunica kann Erfolge vorweisen. In: Frankfurter Rundschau No. 17, January 20, 2007, p. 5.
NATO (2006): Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia join NATO Partnership for Peace.
Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (2007): Communication. No. 10, Issue LVII, 23.01.2007. Statistics of Employment. Beograd.
Results of Serbian Parliamentary Elections
| Party | Votes1 | Seats | Percentage |
| Serbian Radical Party (SRS) | 1152105 | 81 | 28,59 |
| Democratic Party (DS) | 915014 | 64 | 22,71 |
| Democratic Party of Serbia-New Serbia (DSS-NS) | 666889 | 47 | 16,55 |
| G17 Plus | 274874 | 19 | 6,82 |
| Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) | 227304 | 16 | 5,64 |
| Liberal Democratic Party, Civic Alliance of Serbia. Social Democratic Union, League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina | 214028 | 15 | 5,31 |
| Vojvodina Hungarians2 | 52458 | 3 | 1,30 |
| List for Sandzak2 | 33819 | 2 | 0,84 |
| Roma Union of Serbia2 | 16995 | 1 | 0,42 |
| Albanian Coalition from Presevo Valley2 | 16972 | 1 | 0,42 |
| Roma Party2 | 14568 | 1 | 0,36 |
1 Out of a number of 6,653,851 registered voters 4,029,286 or 60.56% participated in the Serbian general elections.
2 The Serbian electoral system concedes minority parties seats in the parliament even if they don't meet the threshold of 5% of the votes.
Source: Government of Serbia
The Madrid-based non-profit organisation FRIDE described the Serbian party system as follows:
"The party system in Serbia is still personality-driven
and remains fragmented. Parties are often defined as
divided between democratic and radical camps; in
practice, divisions are blurred and parties are better
understood as positioned at different points along a
continuum between moderate and nationalist poles." (FRIDE 2007)
The SRS is being described as having tempered its nationalist rhetoric but still exploiting nationalism at the expense of political reform and rapprochement with Europe.
The DS ist said to "attract mainly the young and urban population", to advocate "full and speedy integration into the Euro-Atlantic community", support autonomy for Vojvodina, and show "signs of willingness to accommodate to possible independence for Kosovo". The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS)
"attracts middle ground voters, especially those who admit to some nationalist sentiment but who do not want to vote
for a radical party. Even though the DSS is considered to be within the pro-reform bloc and defines itself as pro-European, its leader has maintained an ambiguous and fluctuating stand on key reform issues and has often played the nationalist card.The DSS split from the DS due to disagreement over the ICTY issue." (FRIDE 2007)
The distribution of seats in the Serbian Parliament shows the difficulty of forming a government without the Radical Party (SRS). In order to reach a majority in the 250 seats parliament, the runner-up Democratic Party of President Boris Tadić needs to form a coalition with Premier Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia-New Serbia (DSS-NS) which came third in the elections plus most likely the liberal G17 Plus of former secretary of treasury Mladjan Dinkić: These three blocks are being portrayed as pro-"Western" and pro-reformist in "Western" media and on part of EU-officials.
Source: Government of Serbia
EU Commends Elections
Despite the success of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), that is dubbed anti-reformist and anti-EU, EU officials displayed positive attitudes towards the election results in the Republic of Serbia. At their Council meeting in Brussels on January 22, 2007, the EU foreign ministers expressed their satisfaction that the elections "were conducted freely and fairly and were on the whole a compliment to the democratic standards that Serbia has reached." Enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn commented: "The reformist forces that share European values achieved a clear parliamentary majority, which should enable them to form a pro-European and reform-oriented government. I look forward to such a government making rapid progress towards the EU". (EU Commission 2007b)
Kosovo No Topic in Election Campaigns
The domestic situation before the elections appeared to be stable. Net real salaries and wages (i.e. tax and contributions deducted) paid in the Republic of Serbia (without Kosovo) from January to December 2006 were 11.41% higher than during the same period a year before. (Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia 2007: 7) Premier Kostunica managed to keep the question of the future of Kosovo out of the elections campaigns. (Mappes-Niediek 2007) That might not have been, however, too big of a task. None of the major parties declared Kosovo as lost cause for Serbia, certainly not the Radicals but neither Kostunica of the Democratic Party of Serbia-New Serbia (DSS-NS), or the candidate of the Democratic Party (DS), Bozidar Djelic, who told the German daily Frankfurter Rundschau:"I am for national unity. Especially in Germany, I think, everybody will understand this. Kosovo counts for 15 percent of our territory, the Serbian church is strong there. Certainly we do not waste a single thought on war or aggressive strategies. But Kosovo shall remain with Serbia." (Frankfurter Rundschau 2007: 5)
International Re-Integration
In 2006, the Republic of Serbia had undertaken further steps towards international re-integration. The Commission of the European Union (EU) lauded Serbia in a report to EU parliament and council "for its responsible approach following Montenegro’s independence". Furthermore the economic integration with the EU had advanced, and Serbia appears to have subscribed to EU-conform economic policy measures: "Serbia has registered success in ensuring macroeconomic stability in pursuing privatisation, and in attracting foreign direct investment." (EU Commission 2006: 12)Premier Vojislav Kostunica had also strengthened ties to Russia and led his country into the NATO Partnership for Peace. President Boris Tadić signed the accession documents on December 14, 2006. (NATO 2006) Finally on December 19, 2006, Serbia signed the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) that includes "Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia (including Kosovo, as defined in United Nations Security Council resolution 1244)". (EU Commission 2007b) Bulgaria and Romania left CEFTA immediately afterwards with their accession to the EU on January 1, 2007. Although the EU "is not a party, the EU Commission has provided political, technical and financial support throughout the process". EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn called CEFTA "an inevitable part of membership of the European Union". (EU Commission 2007a)
Read in part II: ICTY and War Against Yugoslavia
Sources
European Commission (2006): Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council. Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2006 – 2007. Brussels, September 8, 2006.
European Commission (2007a): Summit signatures on the renewed CEFTA. In: Enlargement Newsletter, January 12, 2007.
European Commission (2007b): EU responds to Serbia's election. In: Enlargement Newsletter, January 26, 2007.
Frankfurter Rundschau (2007): "In sechs bis sieben Jahren in die Europäische Union". Interview with Božidar Djelić. In: Frankfurter Rundschau No. 17, January 20, 2007, p. 5.
FRIDE (2007): Serbia's Election and the Challenges Ahead. Democratic Backgrounder. January 2007.
Government of Serbia (2007): RIK announces final results of parliamentary elections. Beograd. (February 1, 2007)
Mappes-Niediek, Norbert (2007): Kostunica kann Erfolge vorweisen. In: Frankfurter Rundschau No. 17, January 20, 2007, p. 5.
NATO (2006): Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia join NATO Partnership for Peace.
Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (2007): Communication. No. 10, Issue LVII, 23.01.2007. Statistics of Employment. Beograd.
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