2006–07 Serbian local elections

A small number of municipalities in Serbia held local elections in 2006 for mayors, assembly members, or both. These were not part of the country's regular cycle of local elections but instead took place in certain jurisdictions where either the local government had fallen or the term of the municipal assembly had expired.

Serbia had introduced the direct election of mayors in 2002. This practice was abandoned with the 2008 cycle, but it was still in effect in 2006, and some mayoral by-elections took place in that year. The constituent municipalities of Belgrade did not have directly elected mayors, and in these jurisdictions mayors were chosen by the elected assembly members. ^[1]

Not many local elections were held in 2007 due to the approaching 2008 Serbian local elections, in which all Serbian municipalities elected assembly members under a revised system. At least one sitting mayor won a recall election in that year, however.

All assembly elections were held under proportional representation with a three per cent electoral threshold. Successful lists were required to receive three per cent of all votes, not only of valid votes.

Results

2006

Belgrade

Barajevo

An election for the Barajevo municipal assembly was held on 1 October 2006, with repeat voting in some polls on 8 October.

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Party–Boris Tadić	2,778	24.32	9
	Democratic Party of Serbia–Dr. Vojislav Koštunica	2,421	21.20	8
	Serbian Radical Party–Tomislav Nikolić	1,741	15.24	5
	Socialist Party of Serbia	1,198	10.49	4
	New Serbia–Mr. Velimir Ilić	1,195	10.46	4
	Strength of Serbia Movement–Bogoljub Karić–Dr. Igor Elez	381	3.34	1
	Serbian Democratic Renewal Movement–Vojislav Mihailović–Veroljub Stevanović	364	3.19	1
	G17 Plus–Mlađan Dinkić	354	3.10	1
	Movement for Barajevo–Vladeta Vićentijević	242	2.12	–
	"PUPS"–Nebojša Brkić	192	1.68	–
	Citizens' Group: Zdravko Ilić	182	1.59	–
	Liberal Democratic Party–Čeda Jovanović	120	1.05	–
	Citizens' Group: Milan Gvozdić	77	0.67	–
	Serbian Renewal Movement–Ivan Petković	67	0.59	–
	Democratic Orthodox Party–Dr. Mihailo Petković	65	0.57	–
	Citizens' Group: Petar Tešić	30	0.26	–
	Citizens' Group: Slaviša Stanković–Settlement "Gaj"–Step to the City	15	0.13	–
Total		11,422	100.00	33
Source: [2]

Incumbent mayor Rade Stevanović of the Democratic Party of Serbia was selected for another term in office on 8 December 2006. ^[3] He was dismissed from office on 12 February 2007 but was reinstated nine days later. ^[4] Branislav Đurić of the Radical Party appears to have been acting mayor during the brief time Stevanović was out of office.

Stevanović was again dismissed on 30 April 2007. ^[5] Igor Jevtić of New Serbia was initially dismissed as deputy mayor at the same time; however, his dismissal was overturned on 15 May and he appears to have served as acting mayor prior to the appointment of Branka Savić of the Democratic Party on 25 June. ^{[6] [7]}

Vojvodina

Bečej

Former Bečej mayor Đorđe Predin had been defeated in a 2005 recall election, and a by-election to replace him was held over two rounds on 5 and 19 February 2006. Peter Knezi, who had served as deputy mayor, may have been acting mayor during the election period.

2006 Municipality of Bečej local by-election: Mayor of Bečej

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Dušan Jovanović	Democratic Party of Serbia	2,571	17.05	9,147	65.45
	Dragan Živkov Džaja	Serbian Radical Party	2,658	17.63	4,829	34.55
	Peter Knezi	Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians	2,417	16.03
	Živan Gavrilović	Socialist Party of Serbia	1,743	11.56
	Zoran Subotički	G17 Plus	1,741	11.55
	Gordana Kovačev	Democratic Party	1,544	10.24
	Šandor Reperger	Strength of Serbia Movement–Bogoljub Karić	908	6.02
	Slobodan Borojević Bata	Citizens' Group	629	4.17
	Sándor Páll	Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians	584	3.87
	Laslo Friš	Democratic Party of Vojvodina Hungarians	282	1.87
Total			15,077	100.00	13,976	100.00
Valid votes			15,077	98.91	13,976	98.05
Invalid/blank votes			166	1.09	278	1.95
Total votes			15,243	100.00	14,254	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			34,365	44.36	34,334	41.52
Source: [8]

Beočin

Beočin mayor Zoran Tesić won a recall election on 3 December 2006. The preliminary results of the election were:

Choice		Votes	%
	No on recall	2,731	53.93
	Yes on recall	2,333	46.07
Total valid votes		5,064	100
Source: [9]

Kovin

A new municipal assembly election was held in Kovin on 4 June 2006, and a mayoral by-election was held in two rounds on 25 June and 9 July.

2006 Municipality of Kovin local by-election: Mayor of Kovin

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Sava Krstić	Democratic Party of Serbia, Dr. Vojislav Koštunica–New Serbia, Mr. Velimir Ilić	2,342		5,326	51.98
	Stevan Kolarević	Citizens' Group: Democratic Blok (Democratic Party, G17 Plus, League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina, Serbian Renewal Movement, Civic Alliance of Serbia, Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, Democratic Vojvodina, Vojvodina's Party, Reformists of Vojvodina)	2,672		4,921	48.02
	Blagoje Bogdanović	The Socialists (SPS and SNS)
	Dragan Mićović	Citizens' Group: For Justice and Equality
	Tatjana Radenković Jakšić	Serbian Radical Party
	Jezdimir Ranković	Citizens' Group: Reformists
	Gordana Zorić	Strength of Serbia Movement–Bogoljub Karić
Total					10,247	100.00
Valid votes					10,247	97.84
Invalid/blank votes					226	2.16
Total votes					10,473	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			30,007	–	30,007	34.90
Source: [10]

Krstić was elected in the second round with the support of 17.45% of eligible voters, as against 16.41% for Kolarević. ^[11]

Kula

Kula mayor Tihomir Đuričić was defeated in a recall election on 7 May 2006. ^[12] A by-election to select a new mayor was held over two rounds on 25 June and 9 July 2006.

2006 Municipality of Kula local by-election: Mayor of Kula

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Svetozar Bukvić	Democratic Party		38.46		53.55
	Tihomir Đuričić	Serbian Radical Party		32.78		46.45
	Smiljana Vukelić	Socialist Party of Serbia
	Hercen Radonjić	Green Party (Stranka Zelenih)
	Stanko Studen	Citizens' Group: Patriotic Alliance of Kula
Total
Source: [13]

Novi Bečej

Novi Bečej mayor Aca T. Ðukičin was defeated in a recall election on 9 April 2006.

Choice		Votes	%
	Yes on recall	3,164	56.68
	No on recall	2,418	43.32
Total valid votes		5,582	100
Source: [14]

A by-election to select a new mayor was held over two rounds on 4 and 18 June 2006.

2006 Municipality of Novi Bečej local by-election: Mayor of Novi Bečej

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Milivoj Vrebalov Miša	Liberal Democratic Party	1,696	20.76	4,136	50.89
	Saša Maksimović	Serbian Radical Party	2,013	24.64	3,992	49.11
	Radoslav Čokić	Democratic Party of Serbia	1,203	14.72
	Aca T. Ðukičin	Democratic Party	1,021	12.50
	Zoran Trifunac	Citizens' Group: Zoran Trifunac and Citizens	793	9.71
	Branimir Lisičin	Socialist Party of Serbia	598	7.32
	Petar Kerkez	Citizens' Group: Da Pobedimo Prošlost	558	6.83
	Momir Mandić Moma	Party of United Pensioners of Serbia	288	3.53
Total			8,170	100.00	8,128	100.00
Valid votes			8,170	98.54
Invalid/blank votes			121	1.46
Total votes			8,291	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			20,786	39.89
Source: [15]

Odžaci

Odžaci mayor Milan Ćuk won a recall election on 3 December 2006. ^[16]

Central Serbia (excluding Belgrade)

Despotovac

Elections were held in Despotovac on 1 October 2006 to elect a mayor and members of the municipal assembly. ^{[17] [18]} The second round of voting in the mayoral election took place on 15 October 2006. ^{[19] [20]}

2006 Municipality of Despotovac local by-election: Mayor of Despotovac

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Gradimir Malešević	Democratic Party of Serbia–New Serbia–United Serbia	5,576	42.62	5,525	52.48
	Radivoje Milanović	Democratic Party–Liberals of Serbia	4,050	30.96	5,003	47.52
	Slobodan Stojanović	Serbian Radical Party
	Momir Anđelković	Socialist Party of Serbia
Total					10,528	100.00
Source: [21]

Results of the election for the Municipal Assembly of Despotovac:

Party		Seats
	Democratic Party of Serbia–New Serbia–United Serbia	14
	Democratic Party–Liberals of Serbia	13
	Serbian Radical Party	7
	G17 Plus	5
	Party of United Pensioners of Serbia	3
	Socialist Party of Serbia	2
	Liberal Democratic Party	1
Total		45
Source: [22] Only parties or alliances that won seats are listed.

Doljevac

Elections were held in Doljevac on 1 October 2006 to elect members of the municipal assembly. ^[23] The results do not appear to be available online. Goran Ljubić's status as mayor was not affected, and the next local assembly elections took place as part of the regular cycle in 2008.

Kraljevo

Radoslav Jović resigned as mayor of Kraljevo on 24 November 2006. ^[24] A by-election to choose his replacement was held over two rounds on 5 and 19 February 2006. ^[25] The results were as follows:

2006 Municipality of Kraljevo local by-election: Mayor of Kraljevo

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Dr. Miloš Babić	New Serbia–Velimir Ilić	14,509	42.07	20,068	76.84
	Miljko Četrović	Serbian Radical Party	5,477	15.88	6,048	23.16
	Slobodan Mihajlović	Democratic Party–Boris Tadić	3,658	10.61
	Zvonko Obradović	G17 Plus	2,947	8.54
	Mirko Vuković	Serbian Renewal Movement	2,674	7.75
	Prof. Dr. Dragoslav Kočović	Socialist Party of Serbia	1,713	4.97
	Đorđe Pavlović	Strength of Serbia Movement–Bogoljub Karić	1,622	4.70
	Dr. Zoran Miljković	Citizens' Group: Movement: Kraljevo Above All	1,336	3.87
	Zoran Jovanović	People's Party	553	1.60
Total			34,489	100.00	26,116	100.00
Valid votes			34,489	98.51	26,116	98.46
Invalid/blank votes			523	1.49	409	1.54
Total votes			35,012	100.00	26,525	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			102,152	34.27	102,152	25.97
Source: [26]

Novi Pazar

The 2004 elections in Novi Pazar produced a divided government: Sulejman Ugljanin of the Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak was elected as mayor, but his party did not command a majority in the assembly and the rival Sandžak Democratic Party was able to form a coalition administration. ^[27]

The government of Serbia introduced a provisional administration to Novi Pazar in April 2006 on the grounds that the assembly did not adopt the budget within the legal deadline. A new assembly election was scheduled for 11 September 2006.

At the time this happened, there was already an effort underway to recall Ugljanin as mayor. This effort ended in chaos, with two separate votes taking place. The first recall election, held on 14 May 2006, was organized by an election commission appointed by the former SDP-led administration. In this vote, ninety-eight per cent of voters supported recall. The second election, held on 25 June 2006, was held by a commission appointed by the interim government, and in this vote about ninety-seven per cent of voters opposed recall. Ultimately, Ugljanin was not removed from office. ^[28]

The results of the municipal assembly election were as follows:

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Coalition: List for Sandžak Dr. Sulejman Ugljanin	19,071	53.42	27
	Together for Novi Pazar (SDP, DS, G17 Plus–Mirsad Đerlek)	8,369	23.44	12
	Democratic Party of Serbia–New Serbia–Dr. Vojislav Koštunica–Mr. Velimir Ilić	2,580	7.23	4
	Serbian Radical Party	1,572	4.40	2
	Liberal Democratic Party–Čeda Jovanović	1,306	3.66	2
	Party for Sandžak Fevzija Murić	1,001	2.80	–
	Bosniak Coalition: Sandžak Alternative, Sandžak Democratic Union	724	2.03	–
	Citizens' Group: Serbian Democratic Alliance	705	1.97	–
	Party of United Pensioners of Serbia–Žarko Kovačević	199	0.56	–
	Strength of Serbia Movement–Bogoljub Karić	174	0.49	–
Total		35,701	100.00	47
Valid votes		35,701	98.44
Invalid/blank votes		567	1.56
Total votes		36,268	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		69,061	52.52
Source: [29]

Ahmedin Škrijelj of the Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak was elected on the list of the List for Sandžak. ^[30]

Ražanj

Ražanj mayor Životije Popović was defeated in a recall election on 30 April 2006.

Choice		Votes	%
	Yes on recall	2,348	55.65
	No on recall	1,871	44.35
Total valid votes		4,219	100
Source: [31]

New assembly elections had originally been scheduled for later in the year, as the previous elections had been held in 2002. Following Popović's defeat in the recall vote, the assembly elections were brought forward by a few months to coincide with the new mayoral election. Both elections took place on 25 June 2006. ^[32] The second round of voting in the mayoral election took place on 9 July 2006.

2006 Municipality of Ražanj local by-election: Mayor of Ražanj

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Dobrica Stojković	Democratic Party of Serbia–New Serbia–United Serbia		46.70	3,425	65.76
	Rodoljub Mitić	Democratic Party		26.24	1,783	34.24
	other candidates
Total					5,208	100.00
Source: [33]

Results of the election for the Municipal Assembly of Ražanj:

Party		Seats
	Democratic Party of Serbia–New Serbia–United Serbia	11
	Democratic Party	7
	Party of United Pensioners of Serbia	3
	Socialist Party of Serbia	2
	G17 Plus	2
	Serbian Radical Party	2
	Serbian Renewal Movement	1
	Strength of Serbia Movement	1
	Liberal Democratic Party	1
	Citizens' Group: Verislav Velisavljević "Verče"	1
Total		31
Source: [34] Only parties or alliances that won seats are listed.

Smederevo

Jasna Avramović, who had been elected as mayor in the 2004 Serbian local elections, was defeated in a recall election in late 2005. A by-election to determine her successor was held over two rounds on 12 February and 5 March 2006. ^{[35] [36]} The results were as follows:

2006 Municipality of Smederevo local by-election: Mayor of Smederevo

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Saša Radosavljević	Democratic Party of Serbia	6,102		16,428	53.38
	Predrag Umičević	Democratic Party	7,577		14,349	46.62
	Dragan Čolić	Serbian Radical Party	5,825
	Tomislav Petrović	Liberal Democratic Party
	Dejan Reljić	Strength of Serbia Movement
	Bogoljub Spasojević	Citizens' Group: For a Better Village, For a Better City
	Slaviša Stevanović	Citizens' Group: Coalition for a Better Smederevo
	Vladimir Todorović	Citizens' Group: Movement for Smederevo
	Dušan Trajković	G17 Plus
	Zoran Zarić	Socialist Party of Serbia
Total					30,777	100.00
Source: [37] [38] [39]

2007

Central Serbia (excluding Belgrade)

Svilajnac

Svilajnac mayor Dobrivoje Budimirović won a recall election on 2 September 2007.

Choice		Votes	%
	No on recall	5,940	51.17
	Yes on recall	5,668	48.83
Total valid votes		11,608	100
Source: [40]

References

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2. Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 50 Number 22 (6 November 2006), p. 19. This source does not provide the total number of votes cast (including blank and rejected ballots). Lists needed to receive three per cent of all votes to cross the electoral threshold.
3. I. KIŠIĆ, "Barajevo dobilo predsednika", Novosti, 8 December 2006, accessed 14 October 2021.
4. "Disciplinski postupak protiv odbornika", Danas, 23 February 2007, accessed 14 October 2021.
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7. Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 51 Number 23 (29 June 2007), p. 31.
8. Službeni List (Opštine Bečej), Volume 42 Number 2 (26 January 2006), pp. 1-2; Službeni List (Opštine Bečej), Volume 42 Number 3 (7 February 2006), pp. 1-2; Službeni List (Opštine Bečej), Volume 42 Number 4 (20 February 2006), p. 1.
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