1986 Serbian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 16 March, 7 April and 21 April 1986 to elect delegates of the Assembly of SR Serbia. In addition to the parliamentary election, local elections in Serbia and federal elections in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were held in the same year. The election was conducted under an electoral system that was established in the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution. Serbia in 1986 was also a one-party state that was governed by the League of Communists of Serbia (SKS).

1986 Serbian parliamentary election
Socialist Republic of Serbia
16 March, 7 April and 21 April 1986
All 340 seats in the Assembly of SR Serbia
171 seats needed for a majority
PartyLeader Seats +/–
SKS Ivan Stambolić 323 0
Independents – 17 0
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Branislav Ikonić
SKS		 Desimir Jevtić
SKS

The composition of the Assembly did not change in this election; SKS retained its 323 seats and 17 delegates who were not affiliated with SKS also retained their seats in the Assembly. The aftermath of this election marked a turning point in Serbia's history due to the rise of Slobodan Milošević. Ivan Stambolić, who has been the president of the Presidency of the Central Committee since 1984, was succeeded by Milošević, who was his protégé, after the election in May 1986. Milošević would go on to create a faction inside SKS that would be loyal to him and would eventually remove Stambolić and his allies from key positions at the 1987 session of the Central Committee of SKS. In 1988, Milošević started the anti-bureaucratic revolution and began amending the Yugoslav Constitution to revoke the powers of the autonomous status of Vojvodina and Kosovo provinces.

Background
A photograph of Ivan Stambolić inside the Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Serbia
Ivan Stambolić was the head of the League of Communists of Serbia until May 1986

After the World War II, the Communist Party consolidated power in Yugoslavia.[1] Each constituent republic had its own branch of the party, with Serbia having the Communist Party of Serbia, which was renamed to League of Communists of Serbia (SKS) in 1952.[2][3] Branislav Ikonić was elected prime minister of Serbia in May 1982.[4]

Ivan Stambolić, a liberal within SKS, was elected president of the Presidency of the Central Committee of SKS in April 1984.[5][6] Stambolić was until then the president of the City Committee of the League of Communists of Belgrade.[5] As his replacement, he promoted his protégé, Slobodan Milošević, to the position,[5][7] considering that he had long trust in him.[6][8] This decision was met with criticism from older members of SKS.[5] As the president of the City Committee of the League of Communists of Belgrade, Milošević would go on to create a faction of officials that would be loyal him.[6]

Stambolić announced in January 1986 that he would step down as president of the Presidency of the Central Committee of SKS. 84 municipal committees of SKS nominated Milošević as his successor.[9]: 105 

Electoral system

With the adoption of the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution, Serbia's electoral system was changed altogether. Instead of electing members, citizens would elect delegations and workers would also elect their separate delegations. Members of these delegations would then elect delegates that would serve in the Assembly of SR Serbia. The voting system was complex; it combined elements of a direct, indirect, and the first-past-the-post voting majoritarian system.[10]: 24 

The Assembly was also divided into three councils. The Council of Associated Labour had 160 delegates while the Council of Municipalities and Socio-Political Council each had 90 delegates. The delegates would then elect members of the Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Serbia, the Council of the Republic, and a member of the Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY).[11][12] In 1986, Serbia also had 186 municipalities.[13]: 23 

Although Yugoslavia was a one-party state, by the time of the 1986 elections, regional governments and parties often acted independently.[14] Alex Pravda, a writer on Eastern European politics and an emeritus fellow at the St Antony's College of the University of Oxford, characterised all elections in SFRY as "limited elections", however, political scientist Vladimir Goati noted that this characterisation could be only applied to pre-1974 Yugoslav Constitution elections.[15]: 13 [16] Goati characterised the 1974–1986 period as "voting without a choice" (glasanje bez izbora).[15]: 14 

Election date

The election was conducted on three separate days, this being 16 March, 7 April and 21 April 1986.[10]: 27  The election had to be held before 15 May 1986, the date when the Federal Chamber of SFRY was constituted.[17]

Political parties

The table below lists political parties elected in the Assembly of SR Serbia after the 1982 parliamentary election.[13]: 33 

Name Leader 1982 result
Seats
League of Communists of Serbia Tihomir Vlaškalić
323 / 340
Independents –
17 / 340

Conduct

Preparations for the election began in February 1985.[18] The parliamentary election was conducted in the same year as the local elections in Serbia and federal elections in the SFRY.[19][20] The federal election lasted from 10 March to 10 May 1986.[21]: 136  Bogdan Trifunović, the president of the Socialist Alliance of Working People of Serbia, said that "these are the elections for changes, and not for the continuation of a crisis".[14]

By the time of the election, there were 25,050 delegations in total.[13]: 25 

Results

In the federal elections, there were 6,565,689 citizens of Serbia who had the right to vote.[21]: 137  The composition of the Assembly did not change in this election; SKS retained its 323 seats while the 17 who were not affiliated with SKS retained their seats.[13]: 33  In the Council of Associated Labour, 148 SKS delegates were elected, in the Council of Municipalities, 88 SKS delegates were elected, and in the Socio-Political Council 87 SKS delegates were elected.[13]: 33  A majority of the elected delegates were 50 years old or younger.[13]: 33 

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
League of Communists of Serbia3230
Independents170
Total3400
Registered voters/turnout6,565,689–
Source: Republic Bureau of Statistics[13]: 33 

Aftermath

Assembly

The Assembly was constituted on 6 May 1986. Ikonić became the president of the Assembly while Miodrag Bogdanović, Olga Nikolić, Miloš Sinđić, Milan Šešlija, and Jan Širka were elected vice-presidents of the Assembly.[22] Out of all 340 delegates, only 23.5 percent of them were women.[23] The Assembly elected Desimir Jevtić as prime minister of Serbia.[24]

Rise of Slobodan Milošević
Further information: 8th Session of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Serbia and Anti-bureaucratic revolution
Slobodan Milošević talking with Ivan Stambolić at the Central Committee of SKS session on 28 May 1986
Milošević and Stambolić in May 1986

An election for the president of the Presidency of the Central Committee of SKS was held shortly afterwards the election.[5][6] Stambolić gave up the role to serve as president of Serbia.[6] Like in 1984, Milošević was again proposed as his successor.[6] Milošević would eventually get elected as the president of the Presidency of the Central Committee of SKS on 28 May 1986, winning 151 out of 157 votes of the Central Committee.[9]: 120 [15]: 147  Dragiša Pavlović, a liberal and Stambolić's ally, was also elected as the president of the City Committee of the League of Communists of Belgrade.[6][9]: 118 

Although initially ideologically similar, Milošević adopted populist positions and grew to dislike Pavlović and Stambolić,[7] particularly due to their stances on Kosovo.[6][25][26] Milošević would eventually call a session of the Central Committee of SKS in September 1987.[27] At the session, several Stambolić's allies, including Pavlović, would get dismissed; this moment eventually ended Stambolić's political career.[6][25][28] With Milošević's order, Stambolić would be dismissed from the position of president of Serbia in December 1987 and was instead appointed president of the National Bank of Yugoslavia for international cooperation.[6][8][27]

Milošević would start the anti-bureaucratic revolution in 1988 which effectively toppled regional governments in Montenegro, Vojvodina, and Kosovo.[29][30]

Proposed constitutional changes

The government of Serbia and Milošević proposed changes to amend the Yugoslav Constitution in 1988. Adopted by the Assembly in March 1989, the amendments revoked the powers that the autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo received in the 1974 constitution.[11][31]

References
  1. Lampe, John R. (2000). Yugoslavia as History: Twice There Was a Country. Cambridge University Press. p. 233. ISBN 9780521774017. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  2. Sullivan, Kimberly L. (2009). Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslavia. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 135. ISBN 9780822590989. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  3. Woodward, Susan L. (1995). Socialist Unemployment: The Political Economy of Yugoslavia, 1945-1990. Princeton University Press. p. 182. ISBN 9780691086453. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  4. "Srpski premijeri" [Serbian Prime Ministers]. Izdavačko društvo Kolubara (in Serbian). June 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  5. "O Ivanu Stamboliću" [About Ivan Stambolić]. B92 (in Serbian). 2002. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  6. Mihovilović, Maroje (2 April 2003). "Milošević's greatest betrayal: How Milošević killed his best friend". Nacional. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  7. Saxena, Shalini (2015). Dictatorship, Fascism, and Totalitarianism. Britannica Educational Publishing. p. 108. ISBN 9781622753512. OCLC 890726393.
  8. Partos, Gabriel (29 March 2003). "Ivan Stambolić: Mentor of Milošević stabbed in the back by his protege". The Independent. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  9. Nikolić, Kosta (2006). "Kako je Slobodan Milošević izabran za vođu srpskih komunista (II)" [How did Slobodan Milošević get elected as the leader of Serbian Communists (II)]. Istorija 20. veka (in Serbian) (2). ISSN 0352-3160.
  10. Vukmirović, Dragan (2008). Dva veka razvoja Srbije: statistički pregled [Two centuries of Serbia's development: a statistical overview] (PDF) (in Serbian). Belgrade: Republic Bureau of Statistics. ISBN 978-86-84433-80-2.
  11. "Posle Drugog svetskog rata" [After the Second World War]. National Assembly of Serbia (in Serbian). Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  12. Šeregi, Zoltan (May 1985). "Izbori 1986: Izbor delegata za Skupštinu SR Srbije i za Skupštinu SFRJ" [1986 elections: Election of delegates for the Assembly of SR Serbia and Assembly of SFRY]. Pravo - teorija i praksa. Novi Sad: University of Novi Sad Faculty of Law (5): 79–84. ISSN 0352-3713.
  13. "Statistički godišnjak SR Srbije 1986" [Statistical Yearbook of SR Serbia in 1986]. Statistički godišnjak SR Srbije (in Serbian). Belgrade: Republic Bureau of Statistics. December 1986. ISSN 0351-4064.
  14. Djuirć, Nešo (5 April 1986). "New leaders, new hopes in Yugoslav elections". United Press International. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  15. Goati, Vladimir (2001). Izbori u SRJ od 1990. do 1998.: Volja građana ili izborna manipulacija? [Elections in FRY from 1990 to 1998: the will of the citizens or electoral manipulation?] (PDF) (in Serbian) (2 ed.). Belgrade: CeSID. OCLC 499043191. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  16. Pravda, Alex (1978). "Elections in Communist Party States". Elections Without Choice. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd. p. 173. ISBN 978-1-349-03344-7.
  17. Šeregi, Zoltan (March 1985). "Izbori '86: Pripereme za izbor delegata u 1986. godini" [Elections in '86: Preparations for the election of delegates in the year 1986]. Pravo - teorija i praksa. Novi Sad: University of Novi Sad Faculty of Law (3): 95. ISSN 0352-3713.
  18. "Izbori '86" [Elections in '86]. Pravo - teorija i praksa. Novi Sad: University of Novi Sad Faculty of Law (2): 68. February 1985. ISSN 0352-3713.
  19. "Spisak izbora i referenduma" [List of elections and referendums]. Republic Bureau of Statistics (in Serbian). 26 October 2014. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  20. "Spisak izbora i referenduma" [List of elections and referendums]. Vreme (in Serbian). Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  21. "Yugoslavia" (PDF). Inter-Parliamentary Union. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  22. "Delegatska skupština (1974-1990)" [Delegate Assembly (1974–1990)]. National Assembly of Serbia (in Serbian). Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  23. Orlović, Slaviša (2011). Partije i izbori u Srbiji: 20 godina [Parties and Elections in Serbia: 20 years] (in Serbian). Belgrade: Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Faculty of Political Sciences, Centre for Democracy Foundation. p. 256. ISBN 978-86-84031-49-7.
  24. "Preminuo Desimir Jevtić" [Desimir Jevtić has died]. Radio Television of Serbia (in Serbian). 14 October 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  25. Diehl, Jackson (20 November 1987). "New Serbian leader accused of adding to ethnic tension". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  26. Pavković, Aleksandar (2002). The Fragmentation of Yugoslavia: Nationalism and War in the Balkans (2 ed.). Macmillan. p. 104. ISBN 9780312230845. OCLC 248869486.
  27. Georgievski, Jovana (25 August 2020). ""Fatalni zaokret": Od najbližeg saradnika do poslednje žrtve režima Slobodana Miloševića" ["Fatal u-turn": From the closest collaborator to the last victim of Slobodan Milošević's regime]. BBC News (in Serbian). Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  28. "20 godina Osme sednice" [20 years of the Eight Session]. Vreme (in Serbian). 27 September 2007. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  29. Biondich, Mark (2011). The Balkans: Revolution, War, and Political Violence since 1878. OUP Oxford. p. 200. ISBN 9780191559518.
  30. Sombatpoonsiri, Janjira (2015). Humor and Nonviolent Struggle in Serbia. Syracuse University Press. p. 195. ISBN 9780815653400.
  31. Nelsson, Richard (20 March 2019). "How Milosevic stripped Kosovo's autonomy - archive, 1989". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 August 2023.

Further reading
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