1990 Serbian general election

1990 Serbian general election

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Opinion polls
Presidential election
9 December 1990 (1990-12-09)
Turnout	71.40% ( 12.15 pp)
Candidate Slobodan Milošević Vuk Drašković Ivan Đurić Party SPS SPO SRSJS–UJDI Popular vote 3,285,799 824,674 277,398 Percentage 67.71% 16.95% 5.72%
President of the Presidency before election Slobodan Milošević SPS Elected President Slobodan Milošević SPS
Parliamentary election
9 December 1990 (1990-12-09) (first round) 23 December 1990 (1990-12-23) (second round)
All 250 seats in the National Assembly 126 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	71.39% ( 10.96 pp)
Party Leader % Seats SPS Slobodan Milošević 48.15 194 SPO Vuk Drašković 16.49 19 DS Dragoljub Mićunović 7.78 7 VMDK András Ágoston 2.75 8 SDAS Sulejman Ugljanin 1.75 3 SRSJS Vojin Dimitrijević 1.55 2 NSS Dragan Veselinov 1.41 1 SSSS Milomir Babić 1.09 2 SDS Anđelko Ležajić 0.68 1 UJDI Nebojša Popov 0.52 1 DSHV Bela Tonković 0.49 1 PVD Riza Halimi 0.46 1 SJ Ante Ercegović 0.45 1 DRSM Azar Žulji 0.07 1 Independents – 9.47 8 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Stanko Radmilović SPS Dragutin Zelenović SPS

General elections were held in Serbia, a constituent federal unit of SFR Yugoslavia, in December 1990 to elect the president of Serbia and members of the National Assembly. The presidential elections and the first round of the parliamentary elections were held on 9 December, with the second round of the parliamentary elections taking place on 23 December. The elections were scheduled following the ratification of a new constitution on 28 September, which was approved by voters in a referendum held in July. These were Serbia's first multi-party elections, and the parliamentary election was the only one to be held using a first-past-the-post, two-round voting system with single-member constituencies; all future elections used proportional representation.

Slobodan Milošević came to power in Serbia at the 8th Session in 1987. He then led the anti-bureaucratic revolution, which saw his supporters overthrow the leadership of Montenegro, Kosovo, and Vojvodina. After the July 1990 referendum, Milošević's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), Vuk Drašković's Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), and Dragoljub Mićunović's Democratic Party (DS) became registered parties. Due to low requirements, 1,701 candidates ran for parliament and 32 for president. The campaign was marked by intense polarisation and politically driven incidents. SPS inherited a significant amount of political infrastructure upon its formation, giving it an immeasurable advantage over the opposition, which lacked financing and infrastructure. Furthermore, SPS controlled most television, radio, and newspapers, which attacked and discredited opponents, especially Drašković, and portrayed SPS as the party of peace. The primary issue during the campaign was nationalism.

The possibility of orchestrating an election boycott due to unequal conditions was promoted by SPO and Ivan Đurić of Union of Reform Forces during the campaign but ultimately dropped after the government agreed to most of their demands in late November. SPS and Milošević focused on positive themes and stability, whereas Drašković ran on a nationalist platform. DS and Đurić campaigned on a liberal programme. By the end of the campaign, an SPS supporter had murdered an SPO activist. With a turnout of 71%, primarily due to the Kosovo Albanians' boycott, Milošević won the presidential election in the first round, with Drašković placing second. Despite gaining 48% of the popular vote, SPS received 194 out of 250 seats in the National Assembly due to the first-past-the-post electoral system.

The opposition initially claimed electoral fraud in the elections, but eventually it conceded. Observers and political scientists reported that electoral irregularities such as ballot stuffing and vote buying took place. After the elections, Dragutin Zelenović became prime minister; he was shortly thereafter met with mass protests in Belgrade, during which Drašković was detained, the Yugoslav Wars began, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was established in 1992. Snap elections were then called for December 1992.