2012 Serbian presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Serbia on 6 May 2012 alongside parliamentary elections.[2] The election was called following President Boris Tadić's early resignation in order to coincide with the parliamentary and local elections to be held on the same date. The Speaker of the Parliament, Slavica Đukić Dejanović, took over as the Acting President.[3] As no candidate won a majority, a runoff was on 20 May, with incumbent Tadić facing Tomislav Nikolić of the Serbian Progressive Party.[4]

2012 Serbian presidential election

6 May 2012 (2012-05-06) – 20 May 2012 (2012-05-20)

Candidate Tomislav Nikolić Boris Tadić Party SNS DS Popular vote 1,552,063 1,481,952 Percentage 49.54%[1] 47.31%

Second round results by districts

President before election Slavica Đukić Dejanović (Acting) SPS Elected President Tomislav Nikolić SNS

According to preliminary results published by CeSID,[5] Ipsos[6] and RIK, Tomislav Nikolić has beaten his opponent Boris Tadić and is the new President of Serbia.[7] Official results confirmed that, putting Nikolić at 51.12% against Tadić's 48.88%.

Candidates

First round of the elections was held on 6 May. Republic Electoral Commission has confirmed twelve candidates. Candidate numbers were decided using a random draw on 20 April.[8]

No.	Candidate		Party affiliation		Background	Proof of nomination
1.		Zoran Stanković		United Regions of Serbia	Former Minister of Health and former Minister of Defence, his first presidential nomination.	Submitted 12,332 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[9]
2.		Vladan Glišić		Independent, supported by Dveri Organization.	Master from University of Belgrade Faculty of Law	Submitted 12,733 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[10]
3.		Boris Tadić		Democratic Party	Democratic Party party president. He is running for his third consecutive mandate since 2004 (second since the dissolution of State Union of Serbia and Montenegro).	Submitted 27,606 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[11]
4.		Vojislav Koštunica		Democratic Party of Serbia	Leader of Democratic Party of Serbia, former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (2000–2003) and former Prime Minister of Serbia (2004–2008). He would be running for presidency for a third time. In previous two attempts, in September–October 2002 (30.89% won in first, and 68.4% won in second round) and December 2002 (57.5% won) elections he finished first, however both ballots were declared invalid because the turnout failed to reach the 50% turnout requirement.	Submitted 13,089 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[9]
5.		Zoran Dragišić		Independent	Leader of Movement of Workers and Peasants of Serbia	Submitted 11,464 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[12]
6.		Jadranka Šešelj		Serbian Radical Party	Wife of SRS party leader Vojislav Šešelj. She would be running for presidency for a first time.	Submitted 15,312 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[13]
7.		Muamer Zukorlić		Independent	Islamic Community in Serbia Chief Mufti.	Submitted 10,653 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[14]
8.		Danica Grujičić		Social Democratic Alliance	Chief of department of Neurosurgery at Clinical Center of Serbia.	Submitted 11,301 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[15]
9.		Ivica Dačić		Socialist Party of Serbia	Leader of SPS and current Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia, who is running for presidency for a second time, having finished fifth with 4.04% of the vote in the first round of 2004 elections.	Submitted 15,666 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[16]
10.		Čedomir Jovanović		Liberal Democratic Party	Leader of Liberal Democratic Party, who would also be running for presidency for a second time, having finished fifth with 5.34% of the vote in the first round of 2008 elections.	Submitted 11,006 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[13]
11.		István Pásztor		Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians	Leader of Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, who would also be running for presidency for a second time, having finished sixth with 2.26% of the vote in the first round of 2008 elections	Submitted 12,533 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[14]
12.		Tomislav Nikolić		Serbian Progressive Party	Leader of Serbian Progressive Party, who would be running for presidency for a fourth time having lost previous two times in second round of elections to Boris Tadić, and having won in 2003, but that elections were cancelled due to low turnout (38.8%).	Submitted 18,743 valid signatures to the electoral commission.[17]

Campaign

Both the SNS and the DS supported Serbia's candidature for the EU, with the SNS' Nikolić having sharply contrasted his stance in the past few years. A few hours before the voting centres opened, Tadić told Croatian television that "anything else [than a Democratic Party victory] would be a big risk and a big gamble for Serbia's European integration [and] for regional politics."[18]

Shortly after the first round, a preliminary coalition agreement between the DS and the SPS was reached, which meant that the SPS would also endorse Tadić in the run-off.[19] The DSS officially supported Nikolić in the run-off.[20]

Monitors

The Center for Free Elections and Democracy were amongst the electoral observers.[21]

Results

About 6.7 million people were eligible to vote for the 12 candidates. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe will undertake the organization of voting for the roughly 109,000 Serb voters in Kosovo. These results include the districts of the newly formed Republic of Kosovo, which at the same time has elections independent of the Serbian nation.[18] Voting stations were open from 7:00 to 20:00[22] with no incidents reported across the country. Voter turnout by 18:00 was 46.34% in Belgrade, 48.37% in central Serbia and 47.89% in Vojvodina.[23] The first round resulted in no clear victory for any candidate. With 25% of ballots counted, Boris Tadić was leading with 26.7% over Tomislav Nikolić who had 25.5% of the vote.[24]

 Summary of the 6 May and 20 May 2012 Serbian presidential election results

Candidates		Nominating parties	1st round		2nd round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Tomislav Nikolić	Let's Get Serbia Moving	979,216	25.05%	1,552,063[25]	49.54%
	Boris Tadić	Choice for a Better Life	989,454	25.31%	1,481,952[25]	47.31%
	Ivica Dačić	Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS), United Serbia (JS)	556,013	14.23%
	Vojislav Koštunica	Democratic Party of Serbia	290,861	7.44%
	Zoran Stanković	United Regions of Serbia	257,054	6.58%
	Čedomir Jovanović	U-Turn coalition	196,668	5.03%
	Jadranka Šešelj	Serbian Radical Party	147,793	3.78%
	Vladan Glišić	independent (Civic Group Dveri)	108,303	2.77%
	István Pásztor	Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians	63,420	1.62%
	Zoran Dragišić	independent (Civic Group Movement of Workers and Peasants of Serbia)	60,116	1.54%
	Muamer Zukorlić	Independent	54,492	1.39%
	Danica Grujičić	Social Democratic Alliance	30,602	0.78%
Registered voters			7,026,579		6,771,479
Total turnout			3,911,136	57.77%	3,132,679	46.26%
Valid			3,736,476	95.53%	3,034,015	96.85%
Invalid			174,660	4.47%	98,664	3.15%

First round results by municipalities   Tomislav Nikolić   Boris Tadić   Ivica Dačić   Vojislav Koštunica   Zoran Stanković   István Pásztor   Muamer Zukorlić   Election not held

Second round results by municipalities   Tomislav Nikolić   Boris Tadić   Draw   Election not held

1st round Tadić   25.31% Nikolić   25.05% Dačić   14.23% Koštunica   7.44% Stanković   6.58% Jovanović   5.03% 2nd round Nikolić   51.16% Tadić   48.84%

Second round preliminary results

Incumbent Boris Tadić has lost the presidential elections in Serbia to his opponent, Tomislav Nikolić from the Serbian Progressive Party. Nikolić has won 49.7% of the votes in the runoff of the Serbian presidential elections on Sunday vs. 47% for Tadić, according to data of the Serbian Center for Free Elections and Democracy.[26] This electional results are surprise, as stated by Russian media, based on previous polls.[27] "This was an electoral earthquake, a totally unexpected result," political analyst Slobodan Antonić said on Serbia's RTS state television.[28] Thousands of Nikolić supporters gathered in central Belgrade and other Serbian towns late on Sunday, honking their horns in celebration.[29]

Results

Polling firm	Date of polling	Tadić	Nikolić	Turnout	Note(s)
CeSID[30]	20 May 2012	47.0	49.7	46.3
Ipsos[31]	20 May 2012	47.9	49.0	46.3
RIK[32]	21 May 2012	47.35	49.51	46.32	Based on 99.07% of counted votes

See also

References

1. "Serbian nationalists claim victory in presidential election". Deutsche Welle. Deutsche Welle. 20 May 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
2. "A sada – vreme za pregovore". B92.net. 6 May 2012.
3. Bojana Barlovac. "Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, Serbia's New Acting President". Balkaninsight.com.
4. "Nikolić confident of winning in second round", B 92, 7 May 2012, archived from the original on 8 May 2012, retrieved 7 May 2012
5. "Preliminarni rezultati izbora" (in Serbian). CeSID. Archived from the original on 17 May 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
6. "Uživo: Nikolić predsednik Srbije" (in Serbian). B92.
7. "Serbia's new president addresses reporters". B92. Archived from the original on 21 May 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
8. "Stanković prvi na izbornom listiću". B92.net. 20 April 2012.
9. "RIK prihvatio kandidate DSS i URS". B92.net. 9 April 2012.
10. "Potvrđena kandidatura Glišića". B92.net. 14 April 2012.
11. "RIK proglasio Tadića za kandidata" (in Serbian). Rts.rs.
12. "Potvrđena kandidatura Dragišića". B92.net. 15 April 2012.
13. "'Potvrđeni' Jovanović i Šešelj". B92.net.
14. "Pastor i Zukorlić u izbornoj trci". B92.net. 15 April 2012.
15. "Danica Grujičić 12. kandidat". B92.net. 19 April 2012.
16. "RIK-u predata Dačićeva kandidatura". B92.net. 7 April 2012.
17. "RIK:Nikolić kandidat za predsednika". B92.net.
18. "Polls close in Serbia's general election – Europe". Al Jazeera English.
19. "Serbia: Nikolic Progressive Party kept out of coalition". BBC. 9 May 2012.
20. "Info – DSS and SNS sign agreement to support Nikolić". B92. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012.
21. Fairclough, Gordon (6 May 2012). "Serbia Run-Off Will Pit EU Supporter Against Nationalist". The Wall Street Journal.
22. "Info – Polling stations close across Serbia". B92. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012.
23. Bojana Barlovac. "Voting Finishes Without Incidents in Serbia". Balkan Insight.
24. Nielsen, Nikolaj (8 May 2012). "/ Enlargement / Pro-EU Serb leader fails to get clear victory". Euobserver.com.
25. 200. седница Републичке изборне комисије
26. CeSID i TANJUG broje glasove pred očima javnosti (in Serbian)
27. "Ruski mediji o pobedi Nikolića". B92.net. 17 May 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
28. "Nationalist Nikolić wins Serbian presidential elections". France24.com. Archived from the original on 24 May 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
29. "Nikolić Wins Serbian Presidential Election". En.rian.ru. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
30. "Tomislav Nikolić wins in presidential runoff". 20 May 2012.
31. "Rezultati predsedničkih izbora". 20 May 2012.
32. "Rezultati predsedničkih izbora". 21 May 2012.