2002 Serbian local elections

A small number of municipalities in Serbia held local elections in 2002. These were not part of the country's regular cycle of local elections but instead took place in jurisdictions where the local government had fallen.

Serbia introduced the direct election of mayors via two-round voting in 2002. Elections for local assemblies, which were previously held under first past the post rules in single-member constituencies, were determined by 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

Belgrade

Barajevo

Elections took place in Barajevo on 22 December 2002 to elect a mayor and members of the municipal assembly. The second round of voting in the mayoral election took place on 5 January 2003. When the next regular cycle of local elections took place in 2004, the constituent municipalities of Belgrade were exempted from the direct election of mayors.

2002 Municipality of Barajevo local election: Mayor of Barajevo

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Rade Stevanović Kreza	Democratic Party of Serbia, Democratic Alternative, New Serbia, New Democracy–Vojislav Koštunica (Affiliation: Democratic Party of Serbia)	1,295	18.43	2,858	51.25
	Dragoslav Jovičić Uča	Socialist Party of Serbia	1,726	24.56	2,719	48.75
	Vladeta Vićentijević	Movement for Barajevo	1,156	16.45
	Branka Savić	Democratic Party	881	12.54
	Dragoljub Stanić (incumbent)	Citizens' Group: Dragoljub Stanić–Ilija Dimitrijević	577	8.21
	Milivoje Draganić	Christian Democratic Party of Serbia–For an Independent Serbia	440	6.26
	Biljana Tiosavljević	Serbian Radical Party	304	4.33
	Milorad Matejić	Citizens' Group: Together for Barajevo	258	3.67
	Radiša Stevanović Lube	Serbian Renewal Movement	247	3.52
	Branislav Mijailović	Yugoslav Left	143	2.04
Total			7,027	100.00	5,577	100.00
Valid votes			7,027	97.38	5,577	98.41
Invalid/blank votes			189	2.62	90	1.59
Total votes			7,216	100.00	5,667	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			19,607	36.80	19,607	28.90
Source: ^[1]

Results of the municipal assembly election:

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Coalition: Democratic Party of Serbia, Democratic Alternative, New Serbia, New Democracy–Vojislav Koštunica	1,545	22.33	8
	Socialist Party of Serbia–Slavko Gajić	1,305	18.86	7
	Democratic Party–Vladan Ninković	1,260	18.21	7
	Movement for Barajevo–Vladeta Vićentijević, Dipl. Inž.	649	9.38	3
	Serbian Radical Party–Dr. Vojislav Šešelj	468	6.76	2
	Christian Democratic Party of Serbia–For an Independent Serbia	348	5.03	2
	Citizens' Group: Stanić Dragoljub-Dimitrijević Ilija–Ilija Dimitrijević	334	4.83	2
	Serbian Renewal Movement, Blagoje Tanasković Blaža, Dipl. Elektroinž.	242	3.50	1
	Coalition: Civic Alliance of Serbia and Social Democratic Party Together for Barajevo	219	3.16	1
	Citizens' Group: Ivanković–Nikolić–Vesna Ivanković	172	2.49	–
	Yugoslav Left–Branislav Mijailović	170	2.46	–
	Citizens' Group: New Barajevo–Mr. Miljan Mihajlović	163	2.36	–
	Liberal-Democratic Party^[2]–Bojković Zoran	45	0.65	–
Total		6,920	100.00	33
Valid votes		6,920	95.84
Invalid/blank votes		300	4.16
Total votes		7,220	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		19,607	36.82
Source: ^[3]

Central Serbia (excluding Belgrade)

Despotovac

Elections took place in Despotovac on 22 December 2002, fourteen months after the introduction of temporary measures in the municipality due to local political instability.^[4] The second round of voting in the mayoral election took place on 5 January 2003.

2002 Municipality of Despotovac local by-election: Mayor of Despotovac

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Miroslav Pavković	Socialist People's Party		24	5,614	52.03
	Dr. Sima Janković	Party of Serbian Unity		29.6	5,176	47.97
	other candidates
Total					10,790	100.00
Source: ^[5]

Results of the municipal assembly election:

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Party of Serbian Unity	2,291	19.10	9
	Democratic Party of Serbia	2,244	18.71	9
	Democratic Party	2,231	18.60	9
	Socialist People's Party	1,629	13.58	7
	Serbian Radical Party	738	6.15	3
	Citizens' Group (four different lists)	696	5.80	–
	Liberals of Serbia	677	5.64	3
	Socialist Party of Serbia	604	5.04	3
	Serbian Renewal Movement	468	3.90	2
	Social Democratic Party	234	1.95	–
	Patriotic Blok–Yugoslav Left	183	1.53	–
Total		11,995	100.00	45
Valid votes		11,995	95.76
Invalid/blank votes		531	4.24
Total votes		12,526	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		26,069	48.05
Source: ^[6]

Ražanj

Elections took place in Ražanj on 22 December 2002 to elect a mayor and members of the municipal assembly.^[7] The second round of voting in the mayoral election took place on 5 January 2003.

2002 Municipality of Ražanj local by-election: Mayor of Ražanj

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Životije Popović	Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Democratic Party, Civic Alliance of Serbia, Christian Democratic Party of Serbia)	1,143		2,593	57.11
	Dobrica Stojković	Citizens' Group	976		1,947	42.89
	other candidates
Total					4,540	100.00
Source: ^[8]

Results of the municipal assembly election:

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Democratic Party, Civic Alliance of Serbia, Christian Democratic Party of Serbia)	1,029	24.21	8
	Citizens' Groups (three different lists)	1,021	24.02	7
	Serbian Radical Party	373	8.78	3
	Serbian People's Party	346	8.14	3
	Serbian Renewal Movement	309	7.27	3
	Party of Serbian Unity	308	7.25	2
	Democratic Party of Serbia	282	6.64	2
	Socialist Party of Serbia	246	5.79	2
	Yugoslav Left	139	3.27	1
	United Peasant Party	87	2.05	–
	Social Democracy	55	1.29	–
	New Serbia	55	1.29	–
Total		4,250	100.00	31
Valid votes		4,250	94.76
Invalid/blank votes		235	5.24
Total votes		4,485	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		9,631	46.57
Source: ^[9]

References

1. Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 46 Number 31 (30 December 2002), p. 930; Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 47 Number 3 (11 February 2003), p. 39.
2. Not to be confused with the Liberal Democratic Party formed in 2005.
3. Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 46 Number 31 (30 December 2002), pp. 931-935; Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 47 Number 3 (11 February 2003), p. 39.
4. "Despotovac: Po devet odbornika imaće SSJ, DSS i DS", Glas javnosti, 12 December 2022, accessed 8 September 2022.
5. Sources: ЛОКАЛНИ ИЗБОРИ: Председници општина и градова, изабрани на локалним изборима, 2004., 2010-10-03 at the Wayback Machine, Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 3 October 2010, accessed 12 July 2021; "DOS-u najviše poverenja", Glas javnosti, 24 December 2002, accessed 4 January 2022; "Pavlović na čelu opštine", Glas javnosti, 8 January 2022, accessed 8 September 2022. The first-round results, taken from the second source, are unofficial.
6. Lokalni Izbori – Republika Srbija; Lokalni Izbori 2004; Bureau of Statistics, Republic of Serbia; pp. 3, 16, 82.
7. "Glasanje po novom zakonu", Glas javnosti, 23 December 2002, accessed 4 January 2022.
8. Sources: ЛОКАЛНИ ИЗБОРИ: Председници општина и градова, изабрани на локалним изборима, 2004., 2010-10-03 at the Wayback Machine, Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 3 October 2010, accessed 12 July 2021; "DOS-u najviše poverenja", Glas javnosti, 24 December 2002, accessed 4 January 2022; "Drugi krug izbora", Glas javnosti, 6-7 January 2003, accessed 9 September 2022. The first round results, taken from the second source, are unofficial.
9. Lokalni Izbori – Republika Srbija; Lokalni Izbori 2004; Bureau of Statistics, Republic of Serbia; pp. 16, 101-102; "DOS-u najviše poverenja", Glas javnosti, 24 December 2002, accessed 4 January 2022. According to the latter source, the citizens' group "M. Andrejević" won five mandates, while the group "Better Tomorrow" won two.