2023 Belgrade City Assembly election

In the 2022 Belgrade City Assembly election, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won 48 seats, while the Socialist Party of Serbia–United Serbia coalition retained its 8 seats in the City Assembly.[1] The election also saw the United for the Victory of Belgrade (UZPB) alliance winning 26 seats; the We Must alliance won 13 seats, while the National Democratic Alternative, Serbian Party Oathkeepers (SSZ), and Dveri also gained representation.[1] Despite this, opposition parties won more votes than the government parties in the election; the Social Democratic Party–New Party coalition was short 0.14 percent of the popular vote to cross the 3 percent threshold.[2] Shortly after the election, Dragan Đilas, the leader of the Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP), which was a part of the opposition UZPB alliance, met with Aleksandar Vučić, the president of Serbian Progressive Party, to discuss about the outcome of the election.[3] This move received criticism from SSP's coalition partners, the People's Party (Narodna) and Democratic Party (DS), which ultimately led to the dissolution of the coalition.[4][5][6]

After the negotiations, Vuk Stanić, a councillor-elect of the City Assembly, left the Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia, and voted in favour of Aleksandar Šapić of SNS becoming mayor in June 2022.[7][8] Later in October 2022, the Ujedinjeni councillor group filed a proposal for dismissal of Šapić, citing alleged illegal legalisation of the extension of an apartment at Bežanija.[9] This proposal was also supported from Narodna, DS, Moramo, and Dveri, however it failed as only 44 members voiced their support of it.[10][11][12] During this period, Marija Vukomirović and Stefan Jovanović, who were affiliated with SSZ, left the party, stating their disapproval of the party's leader, Milica Đurđević Stamenkovski.[13] Stanić, Vukomirović, and Jovanović defected to SNS in February 2023.[14][15]

2023 protests

Further information: 2023 Serbian protests

Demonstrators protesting next to the City Assembly of Belgrade

In May 2023, the Belgrade school shooting and a mass murder near Mladenovac and Smederevo occurred.[16][17] The government of Serbia responded by adopting measures such as stricter regulations on gun ownership and hiring 1,200 police officers to schools,[18][19] whilst it was also criticised, particularly due to the statement of Branko Ružić, the minister of education, who said that "a cancerous, pernicious influence of the Internet, video games, and so-called Western values, is evident" in the shooting, and Ana Brnabić, the prime minister of Serbia, who said that the "system did not fail" when responding to the claims that the government could have stopped the shootings.[20][21]

This resulted in mass protests, named Serbia Against Violence, which began on 8 May in Belgrade.[22][23] Tens of thousands attended the protests.[24][25][26] Despite being organised by the SSP, DS, Narodna, Do not let Belgrade drown (NDB), and Together opposition parties, no party signs were reported to be seen at the protests.[27] In response to the Serbia Against Violence protests, Vučić held an SNS-organised gathering on 26 May in Belgrade.[28]

Local elections in Belgrade are held under a proportional representation system. Eligible voters vote for electoral lists, on which the registered candidates are present. An electoral list could be submitted by a registered political party, a coalition of political parties, or a citizens' group. The number of valid signatures needed to be collected to take part in the election varies by the number of eligible voters in that municipality. At least 40 percent of candidates on electoral lists must be female. The electoral list is submitted by its chosen ballot representative, who does not have to be present on its electoral list. An electoral list could be declined, after which those who had submitted can fix the deficiencies in a span of 48 hours, or rejected, if the person is not authorised to nominate candidates. The name and date of the election, the names of the electoral lists and its ballot representatives, and information on how to vote are only present on the voting ballot.[29]

The City of Belgrade Electoral Commission and polling boards oversee the election. Seats are allocated with an electoral threshold of 3 percent of all votes cast, however, if no electoral list wins 3 percent of all votes cast, then all electoral lists that received votes can participate in the distribution of seats. The seats are distributed by electoral lists in proportion to the number of votes received, while the number of seats belonging to electoral lists is determined by applying the highest quotient system. The seats are distributed by dividing the total number of votes received by the electoral list participating in the distribution of seats by each number from one to the number of councillors the City Assembly has. The obtained quotients are classified by size so that the electoral list has as many mandates as it has its quotients among the highest quotients of all the electoral lists participating in the distribution. If two or more electoral lists receive the same quotients on the basis of which the seat is distributed, the electoral list that received the greater number of votes has priority. The seats in the City Assembly are awarded to the candidates to their order on the electoral list, starting with the first candidate from an electoral list. When the councillors of the City Assembly are sworn in, they, in turn, elect the mayor.[29]

Any local election, whether it is a municipal or a City Assembly election, is called by the president of the National Assembly, who also has to announce its date. To vote, a person must be a citizen and resident of Serbia at least 18 years old. A voter could only vote in the municipality of their residence. An election silence begins two days before the scheduled election, meaning that no opinion polls, presentation of candidates and their programmes, or invitation to vote in the election could be published or take place.[29]

Dušan Vučićević, an associate professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Belgrade, has said that in case early City Assembly elections are called, opposition parties could do well in municipalities like Savski Venac, Vračar, and Stari Grad. Srećko Mihailović from Demostat, a research and publishing non-governmental organisation, has also said that opposition parties could receive an even better result in comparison with the 2022 election.[38][39] Đorđe Vukadinović of Nova srpska politička misao also said that opposition parties could do well in New Belgrade.[39]

According to an opinion poll that was conducted by Demostat in December 2022, 50% of the voters would vote for government parties, 33% of the voters would vote for centrist and left-leaning opposition parties, while 17% of the voters would vote for opposition parties that lean to the right.[65]