Serbian parliamentary election, 2003

Infobox Election
election_name = Serbian parliamentary election, 2003
country = Serbia
type = parliamentary
ongoing = no
previous_election = Serbian parliamentary election, 2000
previous_year = 2000
next_election = Serbian parliamentary election, 2007
next_year = 2007
seats_for_election = All 250 seats to the Narodna skupština
election_date = December 28 , 2003


leader1 = Vojislav Koštunica
party1 = Democratic Party of Serbia
leaders_seat1 =
last_election1 = 45 seats
(within DOS)
seats1 = 48 (53)
(DSS-led coalition)
seat_change1 = +3 (+8)
popular_vote1 = 678,031
percentage1 = 17.72%


leader2 = Tomislav Nikolić "(de facto)"¹¹Vojislav Šešelj at the Hague Tribunal
party2 = Serbian Radical Party
leaders_seat2 =
last_election2 = 23 seats
seats2 = 82
seat_change2 = +59
popular_vote2 = 1,056,256
percentage2 = 27.61%


leader3 = Boris Tadić
party3 = Democratic Party (Serbia)
leaders_seat3 =
last_election3 = 45 seats
(within DOS)
seats3 = 23 (37)
(DS-led coalition)
seat_change3 = -22 (-25)
popular_vote3 = 481,249
percentage3 = 12.58%

title = PM
before_election = Zoran Živković
"(interim)"
before_party = Democratic Party (Serbia)
after_election = Vojislav Koštunica
after_party = Democratic Party of SerbiaParliamentary elections were held in the Republic of Serbia on December 28, 2003. The Republic of Serbia then was one of the two federal units of Serbia and Montenegro, formerly known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Serbia has been in a state of political crisis since the overthrow of the
post-communist ruler, Slobodan Milošević, in 2001. The reformers, led by former Yugoslav President Vojislav Koštunica, have been unable to gain control of the Serbian presidency because three successive presidential elections have failed to produce the required 50% turnout ( [http://psephos.adam-carr.net/serbia/serbiaindex.html see details here] ). The assassination in March 2003 of the reforming Prime Minister, Zoran Đinđić (usually spelled Djindjic in English), was a major setback.

At these elections the former reformist alliance, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia, had broken up into three parts: Koštunica's Democratic Party of Serbia, late Prime Minister Đinđić's Democratic Party (now led by Boris Tadić) and the G17 Plus group of liberal economists led by Miroljub Labus.

Opposing them were the nationalist Serbian Radical Party of Vojislav Šešelj and Milošević's Socialist Party of Serbia (descended from the former Communist Party). At the time of the election, both Šešelj and Milošević were in detention at The Hague, Milošević accused of committing war crimes, Šešelj of inspiring them.

The remaining candidate was the monarchist coalition Serbian Renewal Movement-New Serbia, led by Vuk Drašković. Drašković is considered as part of the patriotic opposition: although an extreme Serb nationalist, he hates Šešelj and is seen as more likely to support the reformist parties.

National summary of votes and seats

At the 2000 elections, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia polled 67.0% of the vote and won 176 seats. Of these, the DSS won 46 and the DS won 45.

The overall result of this election is that despite the great increase in support for the Radicals, the four pro-reform parties (DS, DSS, G17 and SRM-NS) won 49.8% of the vote, compared with 34.8% for the two anti-western parties, the Radicals and the Socialists, and won 146 seats to 104.

The high vote for the Radicals reflects partly the collapse of the once-dominant Socialists and the transfer of their vote to the opposite, but equally anti-Western, pole of politics, and partly the inflamed state of Serbian nationalist sentiment, which sees Serbia as the victim of a Western conspiracy following the loss of the Serb-inhabited areas within Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and the NATO-led occupation of Kosovo.