A big change: The 2012 elections in Serbia and their impact on the Western Balkans

Pribićević, Ognjen (2013) A big change: The 2012 elections in Serbia and their impact on the Western Balkans. Teorija in praksa, 50 (3-4). pp. 658-670. ISSN 0040-3598

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Abstract

The key results of the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections are analysed in the paper. Twelve years after the fall of the authoritarian regime of Slobodan Milosevic, radical political change has occurred in Serbia. A new government has been created by two parties from the Milosevic era - the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and the Serbian Progressive Party (SPP), created after the breakup of Sesel's extreme Serbian Radical Party. The third member of the coalition is Mladjan Dinkic's new party, the United Regions of Serbia (the former G17 Plus). It has to be said that both the Socialist Party and the Progressive Party have changed and verbally accepted pro-democratic and pro-European politics. The defeat of Boris Tadic in thepresidential elections and his party in the parliamentary elections was caused by the difficult economic situation, the wrong strategy being taken by the Democratic Party (DP) which led to early presidential elections, and the strengthening of the Socialist Party. Further, the Democratic Party adopted the wrong strategy towards the Progressive Party. Firstly, it helped it in its separation from the Serbian Radical Party, although the DP later accused the SPP of bringing Serbia towards war. In the region of the Western Balkans the changes in Serbia have been received with great suspicion. The main reason for this scepticism is the radical past of leaders of the Serbian Progressive Party, coupled with certain statements made by the new President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolic. In contrast, the major Western powers have welcomed the changes in Serbia since they believe the new government will make faster progress as far as the issue of Kosovo is concerned.

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