Serbian parliamentary election, 2003

Serbia has been in a state of political crisis since the overthrow of the last communist ruler, Slobodan Milošević, in 2001. The reformers, led by former Yugoslav President Vojislav Koštunica, have been unable to gain control of the Serbian presidency because three successive presidential elections have failed to produce the required 50% turnout (see details here). The assassination in March 2003 of the reforming Prime Minister, Zoran Đinđić (usually spelled Djindjic in English), was a major setback.

At these elections the former reformist alliance, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia, had broken up into three parts: Koštunica's Democratic Party of Serbia, late Prime Minister Đinđić's Democratic Party (now led by Boris Tadić) and the G17 Plus group of liberal economists led by Miroljub Labus.

Opposing them were the nationalist Serbian Radical Party of Vojislav Šešelj and Milošević's Socialist Party of Serbia (descended from the former Communist Party). Both Šešelj and Milošević are currently in detention at The Hague, Milošević accused of commiting war crimes, Šešelj of inpsiring them.

The remaining candidate was the monarchist coalition Serbian Renewal Movement-New Serbia, led by Vuk Drašković. Drašković is considered as part of the patriotic opposition: although an extreme Serb nationalist, he hates Šešelj and is seen as more likely to support the reformist parties.

National summary of votes and seats

At the 2000 elections, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia polled 67.0% of the vote and won 178 seats. Of these, the DSS won 46 and the DS won 45.

The overall result of this election is that despite the great increase in support for the Radicals, the four pro-reform parties (DS, DSS, G17 and SRM-NS) won 49.8% of the vote, compared with 34.8% for the two anti-western parties, the Radicals and the Socialists, and won 147 seats to 103.

The high vote for the Radicals reflects partly the collapse of the once-dominant Socialists and the transfer of their vote to the opposite, but equally anti-Western, pole of politics, and partly the inflamed state of Serbian nationalist sentiment, which sees Serbia as the victim of a Western conspiracy following the loss of the Serb-inhabited areas within Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and the NATO-led occupation of Kosovo.

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