Local elections in the Republic of Serbia 2016 and 2020: Political consequences of lowering the electoral threshold

The paper examines the political consequences of the change in electoral legislation through a comparative analysis of election results at the local level in 2016 and 2020. In addition to the analysis of the election results themselves, and bearing in mind the boycott of the majority of the oppositi...

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Main Authors: Perišić Nikola, Kaličanin Boris
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Institute for Political Studies, Belgrade 2023-01-01
Series:Srpska Politička Misao
Subjects:
Online Access:https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0354-5989/2023/0354-59892301189P.pdf
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author Perišić Nikola
Kaličanin Boris
author_facet Perišić Nikola
Kaličanin Boris
author_sort Perišić Nikola
collection DOAJ
description The paper examines the political consequences of the change in electoral legislation through a comparative analysis of election results at the local level in 2016 and 2020. In addition to the analysis of the election results themselves, and bearing in mind the boycott of the majority of the opposition in the 2020 elections, the paper will also show a simulation of the election results of 2016 with a reduced electoral threshold of 3% in order to better understand the effect of lowering the electoral threshold, considering that at that time all relevant political parties participated in local elections. The electoral results from cities that are the seat of administrative districts (24) in the Republic of Serbia, excluding the city of Belgrade and Kosovo and Metohija, are used as a sample for the analysis. The main findings of the research show that the lowering of the electoral threshold did not increase representativeness. More precisely, the number of lists represented in local parliaments did not increase, neither in absolute nor in effective numbers. However, the impact of the boycott of the opposition parties in the 2020 election process should be taken into account. On the other hand, the analysis shows that a larger number of lists would have crossed the electoral threshold if the three-percent electoral threshold had been applied in 2016. In addition, in 2020, a smaller number of so-called "wasted votes" was observed. Lastly, lowering the electoral threshold did not help the citizens groups to achieve better election results in 2020.
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spelling doaj-art-1308c525c228419d9b637c32bb8fa6de2025-01-14T11:09:07ZdeuInstitute for Political Studies, BelgradeSrpska Politička Misao0354-59892023-01-0179118921010.5937/spm79-427010354-59892301189PLocal elections in the Republic of Serbia 2016 and 2020: Political consequences of lowering the electoral thresholdPerišić Nikola0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3642-0731Kaličanin Boris1Institut za političke studije, Beograd, SerbiaUniverzitet u Beogradu, Fakultet političkih nauka, SerbiaThe paper examines the political consequences of the change in electoral legislation through a comparative analysis of election results at the local level in 2016 and 2020. In addition to the analysis of the election results themselves, and bearing in mind the boycott of the majority of the opposition in the 2020 elections, the paper will also show a simulation of the election results of 2016 with a reduced electoral threshold of 3% in order to better understand the effect of lowering the electoral threshold, considering that at that time all relevant political parties participated in local elections. The electoral results from cities that are the seat of administrative districts (24) in the Republic of Serbia, excluding the city of Belgrade and Kosovo and Metohija, are used as a sample for the analysis. The main findings of the research show that the lowering of the electoral threshold did not increase representativeness. More precisely, the number of lists represented in local parliaments did not increase, neither in absolute nor in effective numbers. However, the impact of the boycott of the opposition parties in the 2020 election process should be taken into account. On the other hand, the analysis shows that a larger number of lists would have crossed the electoral threshold if the three-percent electoral threshold had been applied in 2016. In addition, in 2020, a smaller number of so-called "wasted votes" was observed. Lastly, lowering the electoral threshold did not help the citizens groups to achieve better election results in 2020.https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0354-5989/2023/0354-59892301189P.pdfelectoral thresholdlocal electionsrepresentativenesseffective number of partiescitizens groups
spellingShingle Perišić Nikola
Kaličanin Boris
Local elections in the Republic of Serbia 2016 and 2020: Political consequences of lowering the electoral threshold
Srpska Politička Misao
electoral threshold
local elections
representativeness
effective number of parties
citizens groups
title Local elections in the Republic of Serbia 2016 and 2020: Political consequences of lowering the electoral threshold
title_full Local elections in the Republic of Serbia 2016 and 2020: Political consequences of lowering the electoral threshold
title_fullStr Local elections in the Republic of Serbia 2016 and 2020: Political consequences of lowering the electoral threshold
title_full_unstemmed Local elections in the Republic of Serbia 2016 and 2020: Political consequences of lowering the electoral threshold
title_short Local elections in the Republic of Serbia 2016 and 2020: Political consequences of lowering the electoral threshold
title_sort local elections in the republic of serbia 2016 and 2020 political consequences of lowering the electoral threshold
topic electoral threshold
local elections
representativeness
effective number of parties
citizens groups
url https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0354-5989/2023/0354-59892301189P.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT perisicnikola localelectionsintherepublicofserbia2016and2020politicalconsequencesofloweringtheelectoralthreshold
AT kalicaninboris localelectionsintherepublicofserbia2016and2020politicalconsequencesofloweringtheelectoralthreshold