May 1992 Serbian local elections

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

City of Belgrade

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:

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.

Vojvodina

Central Banat District

Zrenjanin

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]

North Bačka District

Subotica

Results of the election for the Municipal Assembly of Subotica:

Party		Seats
	Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians	26
	Socialist Party of Serbia	18
	Citizens' Group candidates	8
	Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina	6
	Civic Movement for Subotica – Doves of Subotica	5
	Bunjevac-Šokac Party	3
	Citizens' Group–Socialist Party of Serbia	1
	League of Communists – Movement for Yugoslavia	–
	Reformist Democratic Party of Vojvodina	–
	Serbian Radical Party	–
	Yugoslavian Party	–
Total		67
Source: [8] [9]

Four of the independent (Citizens' Group) candidates were endorsed by the Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians. ^[10] When the assembly convened on 29 June 1992, incumbent mayor József Kasza of the Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians was confirmed for a new term in office, Stanka Kujundžić of the Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina became deputy mayor, and Imre Kern, elected as an independent (Citizens' Group) candidate, became president of the executive committee. ^[11]

Mali Iđoš

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: [12]

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. ^[13]

North Banat District

Kanjiža

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: [14]

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. ^[15]

When the new assembly convened on 30 June 1992, Vladimir Šupić of the Socialist Party was chosen as mayor. ^[16] No members of the VMDK were chosen to serve on the municipal executive, a development that was criticized in the pages of Magyar Szó. ^[17]

The VMDK later participated in the December 1992 local elections in Kanjiža and won a landslide majority.

South Bačka District

Novi Sad

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: [18]

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. ^[19]

Bečej

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: [20]

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. ^[21]

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. ^[22]

Temerin

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: [23]

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. ^[24]

References

1. See Magyar Szó, 25 June 1992, p. 7.
2. Milan Milošević, "Round Table of the Government and Opposition", Vreme, 18 May 1992, accessed 18 May 2025.
3. Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 38 Number 14 (17 July 1992), p 787-789.
4. Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 38 Number 14 (17 July 1992), p 787-789.
5. Magyar Szó, 2 June 1992, p. 7.
6. Magyar Szó, 26 June 1992, p. 7.
7. Magyar Szó, 26 June 1992, p. 7.
8. Magyar Szó, 17 June 1992, p. 10. This source indicates that the Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians won twenty-seven seats and the Doves of Subotica four. These figures is contradicted by other sources.
9. Magyar Szó, 24 June 1992, p. 14.
10. Magyar Szó, 24 June 1992, p. 14.
11. Magyar Szó, 30 June 1992, p. 7.
12. Magyar Szó, 16 June 1992, p. 7.
13. Magyar Szó, 16 June 1992, p. 7.
14. Magyar Szó, 19 June 1992, p. 7. See also Magyar Szó, 2 June 1992, p. 7, and Magyar Szó, 16 June 1992, p. 7.
15. Magyar Szó, 19 June 1992, p. 7.
16. Magyar Szó, 1 July 1992, p. 7.
17. Magyar Szó, 22 January 1993, p. 7.
18. Magyar Szó, 16 June 1992, p. 7.
19. "SPS candidate elected mayor of Novi Sad," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 3 July 1992 (Source: Tanjug in Serbo-Croat 1919 gmt 30 Jun 92).
20. Magyar Szó, 17 June 1992, p. 7.
21. Magyar Szó, 1 July 1992, p. 7.
22. Magyar Szó, 7 July 1992, p. 7.
23. Magyar Szó, 30 June 1992, p. 7.
24. Magyar Szó, 30 June 1992, p. 7.