Local elections were held in cities and municipalities across Serbia on 31 May 1992, with a second round of voting on 14 June 1992. These elections were held concurrently with parliamentary elections in Yugoslavia and elections for the Vojvodina provincial assembly.
This was the first local election cycle held while Serbia was a constituent member of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It took place during the authoritarian rule of Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) leader Slobodan Milošević and his allies, and against the backdrop of wars in Croatia and Bosnia, the latter of which had started earlier in the year.
As with the Yugoslavian election and the Vojvodina provincial election, the local elections were boycotted by Serbia's main democratic opposition parties, although some members of these parties ran and were elected as independent candidates. [1] The Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians (VMDK) chose to participate in the local elections on the grounds that it did not want the SPS to win by default in predominantly Hungarian areas. [2]
The elections were held under a two-round system of voting in single-member constituencies. As expected, the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) won in most jurisdictions, including the capital Belgrade.
The local assemblies that were elected in May 1992 ultimately did not serve for long. Due to widespread skepticism about the legitimacy of these elections, the Serbian government called a new round of local elections for December 1992.
Results of the election for the City Assembly of Belgrade:
Party | Seats | |
---|---|---|
Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) | 105 | |
Serbian Radical Party (SRS) | 3 | |
Citizens' Group candidates (GG) | 2 | |
Total | 110 | |
Source: [3] |
Note: Only parties or alliances that won representation in the assembly are listed.
Results for the City Assembly of Belgrade by municipality:
Municipality | SPS | SRS | GG | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Barajevo | 2 | - | - | ||
Čukarica | 9 | 1 | - | ||
Grocka | 2 | - | 2 | ||
Lazarevac | 4 | - | - | ||
Mladenovac | 4 | - | - | ||
New Belgrade | 14 | - | - | ||
Obrenovac | 5 | - | - | ||
Palilula | 11 | - | - | ||
Rakovica | 5 | 2 | - | ||
Savski Venac | 3 | - | - | ||
Sopot | 2 | - | - | ||
Stari Grad | 5 | - | - | ||
Voždovac | 12 | - | - | ||
Vračar | 5 | - | - | ||
Zemun | 12 | - | - | ||
Zvezdara | 10 | - | - | ||
Total | 105 | 3 | 2 | ||
Source: [4] |
Slobodanka Gruden of the Socialist Party was chosen as mayor after the election.
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Results of the election for the City Assembly of Zrenjanin:
Party | Seats | |
---|---|---|
Socialist Party of Serbia | 54 | |
Citizens' Group candidates | 5 | |
Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians | 5 | |
People's Party | 3 | |
League of Communists – Movement for Yugoslavia | 1 | |
Serbian Radical Party | 1 | |
seats not filled | 1 | |
Total | 70 | |
Source: [5] [6] |
Only parties or alliances that won representation in the assembly are listed. When the assembly convened on 25 June 1992, Ljubo Slijepčević was chosen as mayor, while Ivanka Stanimirov became deputy mayor and Novica Pavlović was named as chair of the executive council. All were members of the Socialist Party. [7]
Results of the election for the Municipal Assembly of Mali Iđoš:
Party | Seats | |
---|---|---|
Citizens' Group candidates | 15 | |
Socialist Party of Serbia | 10 | |
Total | 25 | |
Source: [8] |
Only parties or alliances that won representation in the assembly are listed. Károly Pál, a member of the Reform Democratic Party of Vojvodina who was elected as an independent (Citizens' Group) delegate, was chosen as mayor on 16 June 1992, defeating Mirko Popović of the Socialist Party by 14 votes to 11. [9]
Results of the election for the Municipal Assembly of Kanjiža:
Party | Seats | |
---|---|---|
Citizens' Group candidates | 11 | |
Socialist Party of Serbia | 7 | |
seats not filled | 15 | |
Total | 33 | |
Source: [10] |
The Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians (VMDK), at the time the dominant party in Serbia's Hungarian community, did not participate in the local elections in Kanjiža, and a large percentage of the municipality's majority Hungarian population appears to have boycotted the vote. In fifteen constituencies, no election took place because there were no candidates.
Although only seven of the eighteen elected delegates were formally endorsed by the Socialist Party, some of the independent delegates were also party members, and in practice the Socialists appear to have had a working majority in the assembly. Jovo Tomišić, the local leader of the Serbian Radical Party, was also elected as an independent. The Hungarian language newspaper Magyar Szó noted that only nine of the elected delegates were ethnically Hungarian (as based on their names), notwithstanding that Hungarians made up eighty-eight per cent of the municipality's population. [11]
When the new assembly convened on 30 June 1992, Vladimir Šupić of the Socialist Party was chosen as mayor. [12] No members of the VMDK were chosen to serve on the municipal executive, a state of affairs that was criticized in the pages of Magyar Szó. [13]
The VMDK later participated in the December 1992 local elections in Kanjiža and won a landslide majority.
Results of the election for the Municipal Assembly of Novi Sad:
Party | Seats | |
---|---|---|
Socialist Party of Serbia | 58 | |
Serbian Radical Party | 6 | |
Citizens' Group candidates | 4 | |
People's Party–Serb Democratic Party | 1 | |
Yugoslav Workers' Association | 1 | |
Total | 70 | |
Source: [14] |
Only parties or alliances that won representation in the assembly are listed. Vladimir Divjaković of the Socialist Party was chosen as mayor after the election. [15]
Results of the election for the Municipal Assembly of Bečej:
Party | Seats | |
---|---|---|
Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians | 17 | |
Socialist Party of Serbia | 12 | |
Citizens' Group candidates | 5 | |
Serbian Radical Party | 2 | |
Total | 36 | |
Source: [16] |
Only parties or alliances that won representation in the assembly are listed.
The first attempt at selecting a mayor, on 30 June 1992, ended in failure after three votes. The first vote was invalidated when Socialist Party candidate Miloš Stražmešterov received eighteen votes, Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians candidate Endre Huszágh received seventeen, and one ballot included a vote for both candidates. On the second vote, Huszágh received eighteen votes, Stražmešterov received seventeen, and there was one blank ballot. As a majority of votes was required, this was not sufficient for Huszágh to become mayor. On the third ballot, Husźagh received seventeen votes, Stražmešterov received fourteen, and five ballots were invalid. During this meeting of the assembly, it was noted that the Radical delegates and three of the independents were aligned with the Socialists, while the other two independents were not aligned with any group. [17]
When the local assembly convened for a second time on 6 July 1992, Stražmešterov was elected as mayor with nineteen votes, as against seventeen for László Fehér of the Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians. [18]
Results of the election for the Municipal Assembly of Temerin:
Party | Seats | |
---|---|---|
Socialist Party of Serbia | 16 | |
Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians | 12 | |
Citizens' Group candidates | 1 | |
League of Communists – Movement for Yugoslavia | 1 | |
Serbian Radical Party | 1 | |
Total | 31 | |
Source: [19] |
Only parties or alliances that won representation in the assembly are listed.
The municipal assembly convened on 29 June 1992. Stevan Vještica was chosen as mayor, Jovan Pekez was chosen as deputy mayor, and Draško Kovačević became president of the executive committee; all were members of the Socialist Party. [20]