A big change : the 2012 elections in Serbia and their impact on the Western Balkans

Pribićević, Ognjen (author)

The key results of the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections are analysed in the paper. Twelve years after the fall of the authoritarian regime of Slobodan Milosevic, radical political change has occurred in Serbia. A new government has been created by two parties from the Milosevic era - the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and the Serbian Progressive Party (SPP), created after the breakup of Seselʼs extreme Serbian Radical Party. The third member of the coalition is Mladjan Dinkicʼs new party, the United Regions of Serbia (the former G17). It has to be said that both the Socialist Party and the Progressive Party have changed and verbally accepted pro-democratic and pro-European politics. The defeat of Boris Tadic in the presidential elections and his party in the parliamentary elections was caused by the difficult economic situation, the wrong strategy being taken by the Democratic Party (DP) which led to early presidential elections, and the strengthening of the Socialist Party. Further, the Democratic Party adopted the wrong strategy towards the Progressive Party. Firstly, it helped it in its separation from the Serbian Radical Party, although the DP later accused the SPP of bringing Serbia towards war. In the region of the Western Balkans the changes in Serbia have been received with great suspicion. The main reasonfor this scepticism is the radical past of leaders of the Serbian Progressive Party, coupled with certain statements made by the new President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolic. In contrast, the major Western powers have welcomed the changes in Serbia since they believe the new government will make faster progress as far as the issue of Kosovo is concerned.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Elections, Parlament, Parliament, Political strategy, Politična strategija, politične stranke, Volitve
• Work type: Not categorized
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publisher: Fakulteta za sociologijo, politične vede in novinarstvo v Ljubljani
• Year: 2013
• Number of pages: Str. 658-670, 689-690
• Numbering: Letn. 50, št. 3/4
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-77618
• UDC: 324(497.11)"2012"
• ISSN on article: 0040-3598
• COBISS.SI-ID: 32134237
• Publication date in RUL: 30.12.2015

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Teorija in praksa : revija za družbena vprašanja
• Shortened title: Teor. praksa
• Publisher: Visoka šola za politične vede, Visoka šola za politične vede, Visoka šola za sociologijo, politične vede in novinarstvo, Fakulteta za sociologijo, politične vede in novinarstvo, Fakulteta za družbene vede
• ISSN: 0040-3598
• COBISS.SI-ID: 763652

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian

Abstract

V članku analiziramo najpomembnejše rezultate predsedniških in parlamentarnih volitev leta 2012. Dvanajst let po padcu avtoritarnega režima Slobodana Miloševića se je v Srbiji zgodila korenita politična sprememba. Novo vlado sta sestavili dve stranki iz Miloševićevega časa: Srbska socialistična stranka (SSS) in Srbska napredna stranka (SNS), ki je bila ustanovljena po razpadu Šešljeve Srbske radikalne stranke. Tretja članica koalicije je nova stranka Združene regije Srbije pod vodstvom Mladjana Dinkića (prejšnja G17). Treba je poudariti, da sta se tako Socialistična stranka kot Napredna stranka spremenili in sta na ravni izjav sprejeli prodemokratično in proevropsko politiko. Težek gospodarski položaj, napačna strategija Demokratične stranke, ki je vodila v predčasne predsedniške volitve, in krepitev Socialistične stranke so povzročili poraz Borisa Tadića na predsedniških volitvah in poraz njegove stranke na parlamentarnih volitvah. Poleg tega je Demokratična stranka zavzela napačno strategijo v odnosu do Napredne stranke. Na začetku ji je pomagala pri odcepitvi od Srbske radikalne stranke, pozneje pa je SNS obtožila, da Srbijo vodi v vojno. Na območju Zahodnega Balkana je vladal precejšen dvom glede sprememb v Srbiji. Glavni razlogi za ta skepticizem so radikalna preteklost voditeljev Srbske napredne stranke in nekatere izjave novega srbskega predsednika Tomislava Nikolića. Po drugi strani pa so največje zahodne sile pozdravile spremembe v Srbiji, saj verjamejo, da bo nova vlada hitreje reševala vprašanje Kosova.