Serbian presidential election, 2012

Serbian presidential election, 2012

6 May 2012 (2012-05-06) and 20 May 2012 (2012-05-20)

Candidate Tomislav Nikolić Boris Tadić Party SNS DS Popular vote 1,552,063 1,481,952 Percentage 49.54%[1] 47.31%

Second round results by districts

President before election Slavica Đukić Dejanović (Acting) SPS Elected President Tomislav Nikolić SNS

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The presidential election took place on 6 May 2012 in Serbia, on the same date as the parliamentary election.^[2] The election was called following President Boris Tadić's early resignation in order to coincide with the parliamentary and local elections to be held on the same date. The Speaker of the Parliament, Slavica Đukić Dejanović, took over as the Acting President.^[3] As no candidate won a majority, a runoff was on 20 May, with incumbent Tadić facing Tomislav Nikolić of the Serbian Progressive Party.^[4]

According to preliminary results published by CeSID,^[5] Ipsos^[6] and RIK, Tomislav Nikolić has beaten his opponent Boris Tadić and is the new President of Serbia.^[7] Official results confirmed that, putting Nikolić at 51.12% against Tadić's 48.88%.

Candidates

First round of the elections was held on 6 May. Republic Electoral Commission has confirmed twelve candidates. Candidate numbers were decided using a random draw on 20 April.^[8]

No.	Candidate		Party affiliation		Background	Proof of nomination
1.		Zoran Stanković		United Regions of Serbia	Former Minister of Health and former Minister of Defence, his first presidential nomination.	Submitted 12,332 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[9]
2.		Vladan Glišić		Independent, supported by Dveri Organization.	Master from University of Belgrade Faculty of Law	Submitted 12,733 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[10]
3.		Boris Tadić		Democratic Party	Democratic Party party president. He is running for his third consecutive mandate since 2004 (second since the dissolution of State Union of Serbia and Montenegro).	Submitted 27,606 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[11]
4.		Vojislav Koštunica		Democratic Party of Serbia	Leader of Democratic Party of Serbia, former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (2000–2003) and former Prime Minister of Serbia (2004–2008). He would be running for presidency for a third time. In previous two attempts, in September–October 2002 (30.89% won in first, and 68.4% won in second round) and December 2002 (57.5% won) elections he finished first, however both ballots were declared invalid because the turnout failed to reach the 50% turnout requirement.	Submitted 13,089 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[9]
5.		Zoran Dragišić		Independent	Leader of Movement of Workers and Peasants of Serbia	Submitted 11,464 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[12]
6.		Jadranka Šešelj		Serbian Radical Party	Wife of SRS party leader Vojislav Šešelj. She would be running for presidency for a first time.	Submitted 15,312 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[13]
7.		Muamer Zukorlić		Independent	Islamic Community in Serbia Chief Mufti.	Submitted 10,653 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[14]
8.		Danica Grujičić		Social Democratic Alliance	Chief of department of Neurosurgery at Clinical Center of Serbia.	Submitted 11,301 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[15]
9.		Ivica Dačić		Socialist Party of Serbia	Leader of SPS and current Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia, who is running for presidency for a second time, having finished fifth with 4.04% of the vote in the first round of 2004 elections.	Submitted 15,666 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[16]
10.		Čedomir Jovanović		Liberal Democratic Party	Leader of Liberal Democratic Party, who would also be running for presidency for a second time, having finished fifth with 5.34% of the vote in the first round of 2008 elections.	Submitted 11,006 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[13]
11.		István Pásztor		Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians	Leader of Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, who would also be running for presidency for a second time, having finished sixth with 2.26% of the vote in the first round of 2008 elections	Submitted 12,533 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[14]
12.		Tomislav Nikolić		Serbian Progressive Party	Leader of Serbian Progressive Party, who would be running for presidency for a fourth time having lost previous two times in second round of elections to Boris Tadić, and having won in 2003, but that elections were cancelled due to low turnout (38.8%).	Submitted 18,743 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[17]

Campaign

Both the SNS and the DS supported Serbia's candidature for the EU, with the SNS' Nikolić having sharply contrasted his stance in the past few years. A few hours before the voting centres opened, Tadić told Croatian television that "anything else [than a Democratic Party victory] would be a big risk and a big gamble for Serbia's European integration [and] for regional politics."^[18]

Shortly after the first round, a preliminary coalition agreement between the DS and the SPS was reached, which meant that the SPS would also endorse Tadić in the run-off.^[19] The DSS officially supported Nikolić in the run-off.^[20]

Monitors

The Center for Free Elections and Democracy were amongst the electoral observers.^[21]

Results

About 6.7 million people were eligible to vote for the 12 candidates. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe will undertake the organization of voting for the roughly 109,000 Serb voters in Kosovo.^[18] Voting stations were open from 7:00 to 20:00^[22] 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.^[23] The first round resulted in no clear victory for any candidate. With 25% of ballots counted, Boris Tadić was leading with 26.7% over Tomislav Nikolić who had 25.5% of the vote.^[24]

Second round preliminary results

Incumbent Boris Tadić has lost the presidential elections in Serbia to his opponent, Tomislav Nikolić from the Serbian Progressive Party. Nikolić has won 49.7% of the votes in the runoff of the Serbian presidential elections on Sunday vs. 47% for Tadić, according to data of the Serbian Center for Free Elections and Democracy.^[26] This electional results are surprise, as stated by Russian media, based on previous polls.^[27] "This was an electoral earthquake, a totally unexpected result," political analyst Slobodan Antonić said on Serbia's RTS state television.^[28] Thousands of Nikolić supporters gathered in central Belgrade and other Serbian towns late on Sunday, honking their horns in celebration.^[29]

Results

References

External links

• Media related to 2012 elections in Serbia at Wikimedia Commons

Elections and referendums in Serbia
Parliamentary elections	1858 1861 1864 1867 1870 1875 1877 1878 1880 1884 1886 1887 1888 (Mar) 1888 (Nov) 1889 1893 (Mar) 1893 (May) 1895 1897 1898 1901 1903 1905 1906 1908 1912 1990 1992 1993 1997 2000 2003 2007 2008 2012 2014 2016
Presidential elections	1990 1992 1997 (Sep–Oct) 1997 (Dec) 2002 (Sep–Oct) 2002 (Dec) 2003 2004 2008 2012 2017
Provincial elections	Vojvodina 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 Kosovo 2001 2004 2007 2010 2014
Municipal and city elections	1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2014 2016
Referendums	1990 1992 (May) 1992 (Oct) 1998 2006 2012 (North Kosovo)
See also: Elections in Serbia and Montenegro Elections in Yugoslavia