2005 Serbian local elections

A few municipalities in Serbia held local elections in 2005 for mayors, assembly members, or both. These were not part of the country's regular cycle of local elections, but instead took place in certain jurisdictions where either the local government had fallen or the term of the municipal assembly had expired.

Serbia had introduced the direct election of mayors in 2002. This practice was abandoned with the 2008 Serbian local elections, but it was still in effect in 2005, and some mayor by-elections took place during the year. The constituent municipalities of Belgrade did not have directly elected mayors, and in these jurisdictions mayors were chosen by the elected assembly members.

All assembly elections were held under 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

Vojvodina

Bačka Palanka

The Bačka Palanka municipal assembly was not properly constituted after the 2004 Serbian local elections, and a new election took place in December 2005. The full results do not appear to be available online. The preliminary results were:

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Serbian Radical Party	6,574	27.78	-2.76	14	-2
	Democratic Party	3,617	15.28	-1.47	8	-1
	Socialist Party of Serbia	2,474	10.45	-1.36	5	-1
	Strength of Serbia Movement	2,422	10.23	+3.61	5	+2
	Democratic Party of Serbia	1,817	7.68	-0.9	4	–
	G17 Plus	1,591	6.72	+4.33	4	+4
	Serbian Renewal Movement	740	3.13	−1.2	2	–
	Others	4,430	18.72		–	–
Total		23,665	100.00	–	42	42
Registered voters/turnout		47,702	49.61%
Source: OODS Bačka Palanka

Bečej

Bečej mayor Đorđe Predin was defeated in a recall election in December 2005.

Choice		Votes	%
	Yes on recall	4,350	53.55
	No on recall	3,773	46.45
Total valid votes		8,123	100
Source: Službeni List

A by-election to selection Predin's replacement was held in early 2006. Peter Knezi of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians had previously served as deputy mayor and may have been acting mayor during the election period.

Central Serbia (excluding Belgrade)

Niš

Niš mayor Smiljko Kostić remained in office following a recall election on 4 December 2005.

Choice		%
	No on recall	62.52
	Yes on recall	35.95
Total valid votes		100
Source: CeSID

Smederevo

Smederevo mayor Jasna Avramović was defeated in a recall election on 25 December 2005. The preliminary results were:

Choice		Votes	%
	Yes on recall	9,450	52.95
	No on recall	8,397	47.05
Total valid votes		17,847	100
Source: CeSID

An election to determine her successor as mayor was held in 2006.

Preševo

On Sunday, November 20, voters in the municipality of Preševo to vote on the initiative Preševo Municipal Assembly for the recall of the president of municipality Riza Halimi. Riza Halimi lost election with 53 per cent for recall and 47 against. After elections Municipal Assembly elected Ragmi Mustafa as his successor.

Recall elections of Riza Halimi, president of the municipality of Preševo

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	7289	53.22
No	6407	46.78
Invalid or blank votes	151	0.09
Total votes	13,696	100.00
Registered voters/turnout	29775	46.51
Source: CeSID