Izborna lista u srazmernom predstavništvu - iskustvo Srbije
The Electoral List in Proportional Representation - The Serbian Experience

Author(s): Irena Pejić
Subject(s): Constitutional Law, Electoral systems
Published by: Institut za uporedno pravo
Keywords: electoral list (closed and open); proportional representation; Serbian electoral law
Summary/Abstract: The model of electoral list in the proportional electoral system of the Republic of Serbia, which was applied in parliamentary elections until the change in the electoral legislation in 2011, is completely unknown in comparative systems. Pursuant to this model, the voters were obliged to vote for the list as a whole, without being able to express their individual preferences towards any candidate, whereas the political parties enjoyed absolute freedom in the personal distribution or allocation of individual seats by selecting candidates from the electoral list. This regulatory framework has created a deformed content of "free choice" (which is guaranteed to political parties but not to voters); consequently, the system assumed the characteristics of indirect elections. After nearly a decade of applying a surrogate of the closed electoral list in the constitutional system of Serbia, the amendments of the national electoral legislation instituted the traditional model of a closed electoral list, which provides minimum guarantees to citizens in terms of personal choice of representatives and the composition of the National Assembly. However, a new legal solution which stipulates that the mandates shall be allocated according to the established order of candidates on the electoral list may cause unfavorable effects in the proportional electoral system with a single constituency in the Republic of Serbia. In the current circumstances, the applied model of a closed electoral list is inconsistent with the principle of equal electoral rights of citizens because it lays down treacherous grounds for unauthorized entry of various unlawful instruments in the course of candidate nomination.

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