Local elections in Serbia were held on 28 March 2021 in the municipalities of Zaječar, Kosjerić and Preševo, and on 17 October in Mionica and Negotin.

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2021 Serbian local elections

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Results of the local elections

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The ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won a majority of seats in the city assemblies of Zaječar and Kosjerić, while the Alternative for Changes, led by Shqiprim Arifi, won a majority of seats in Preševo. Non-governmental organisations have reported electoral irregularities in Zaječar and Kosjerić, including physical attacks to some journalists and election list candidates; no irregularities were reported in Preševo.

Later that year, SNS also won a majority of seats in the city assemblies of Mionica and Negotin. Physical attacks towards opposition activists in Negotin sparked media attention, while the People's Party claimed that electoral irregularities took place at voting stations.

Previous local elections in Zaječar and Kosjerić were held in 2017.^[1] An opposition civic group named "Movement for Krajina", led by Boško Ničić, won the election in Zaječar with 31.9 percent of the popular vote, while the Serbian Progressive Party-led (SNS) list placed second with 30.82 percent of popular vote.^[2] In September 2017, Ničić unexpectedly merged his civic group into SNS, directly giving SNS a majority of seats in the city assembly.^[3] SNS won 32.3 percent of the popular vote in Kosjerić, double more than the list led by the Democratic Party (DS),^[4] and it retained the majority by aligning with the pro-government parties, Movement of Socialists and the Serbian People's Party.^[5][6]

Preševo, a municipality in which Albanians make a majority of the population,^[7] experienced political crisis between 2017 and 2021.^[8] The crisis began in September 2017, when the local city council was replaced by a temporary body led by the president of the Municipality of Preševo, Shqiprim Arifi.^[9] It was dissolved because no sessions were held since 24 May 2017 according to the law on local self-governments.^[10] The local government was dissolved on 18 September 2017.^[11] Multiple elections were held in December 2017,^[12] January 2018,^[13][14][15] and June 2020.^[16] Albanian minority parties won a majority of seats in those elections.^[17] In December 2020, the local city council was dissolved again and a temporary body was introduced because there were no sessions held since 27 August.^[18] Arifi, who was re-elected in 2018,^[19] was chosen as the head of the temporary body since he served as the president of the municipality.^[18][20]

Local elections in Serbia 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.^[21]

Local electoral commissions 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 councilors the local 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 local assemblies are awarded to the candidates to their order on the electoral list, starting with the first candidate from an electoral list. When the councilors of a local assembly are sworn in, they in turn elect the mayor.^[21]

An electoral list could be declared the status of an ethnic minority electoral list by the local electoral commission. An ethnic minority electoral list could be only submitted by a registered political party or a coalition of political parties of an ethnic minority. If the percentage of the members of that ethnic minority is less than 50% in that municipality, an electoral list could be then granted the status of an ethnic minority electoral list. If the electoral list receives less than the 3 percent electoral threshold of all votes cast, it would still take part in the distribution of seats. When the distribution of seats takes place, the quotients of ethnic minority electoral lists that won less than 3 percent of the votes are increased by 35 percent.^[21]

Any local election, whether it is a municipal or a local assembly election, is called by the president of the National Assembly, who also has to announce its date.^[21] To vote, a person has to be a citizen and resident of Serbia and at least 18 years old.^[21] A voter could only vote in the municipality of their residence.^[21] 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 take place.^[21]

Ivica Dačić, the president of the National Assembly, called the elections in Zaječar, Kosjerić, and Preševo on 5 February 2021.^[22][23] Later that year, he also called early elections to be held in Mionica and Negotin.^[24]

SNS won the most amount of seats in all municipalities,^[89][91][92] except Preševo, where they only won two seats.^[53] One of the major opposition candidates in Zaječar was Nenad Ristović who placed third in the 2017 Zaječar local election.^[93] After the 2021 election, Ristović pledged again to not cooperate with SNS.^[94][95] However, Ristović was later featured on the SNS list for the 2022 parliamentary election.^[96] Ničić was successfully re-elected as mayor in May 2021.^[97] SNS successfully formed local governments in Kosjerić, Mionica and Negotin.^[98]