1989 Serbian general election

Post-World War II After World War II, the Communist Party consolidated power in Yugoslavia, transforming the country into a socialist state. Each constituent republic had its own branch of the Communist party, with Serbia having the Communist Party of Serbia. The federal Communist party renamed itself the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ) at its 6th Congress in 1952. Its branches did the same; the Communist Party of Serbia became the League of Communists of Serbia (SKS). Josip Broz Tito was the president of SKJ until his death in 1980. After Tito's death, Yugoslavia was faced with issues related to the economy, constitutional problems, and a potential rise in ethnic nationalism. Yugoslavia initially implemented austerity measures to reduce its debt. A swift increase in debt, inflation, and unemployment was seen in the 1980s instead. According to publicist Zlatoje Martinov, the republics got "stronger and became de facto states with their own armed forces" (sve više jačaju i predstavljaju faktičke države sa sopstvenim oružanim snagama) because of the crises. Martinov also said that the gradual process of the dissolution of Yugoslavia was underway. Following the 1986 parliamentary election, Desimir Jevtić became the prime minister of Serbia. Rise of Slobodan Milošević (left) rose to power after removing Ivan Stambolić (right) and his allies from key positions in 1987 Ivan Stambolić, the president of the City Committee of the League of Communists of Belgrade, was elected president of the presidency of the Central Committee of SKS in 1984. Considered a political reformist within SKS, Stambolić was the mentor of Slobodan Milošević, his colleague from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law. After becoming the president of the presidency of the Central Committee of SKS in 1984, Stambolić appointed Milošević as his successor to his previous role, despite opposition from older Communist officials. There were proposals to have several candidates in the leadership election, although, the presidency voted 12–8 to propose Milošević as the sole candidate for the president of the presidency of the Central Committee of SKS. He began portraying himself as a supporter of Kosovo Serbs, and during one visit to Kosovo, he said to Serbs that "no one will dare to beat you" (ne sme niko da vas bije). During the same period, he became more critical of Stambolić and Pavlović, particularly due to their moderate stance on Kosovo. Milošević called for a session of the Central Committee of SKS to be held in September 1987. At the session, Stambolić tried to reconcile Pavlović and Milošević, but Milošević instead criticised Stambolić and Pavlović. Pavlović and Stambolić's other allies were then dismissed from their positions. Stambolić was isolated after the session and was removed from the position of president of Serbia in December 1987. Although Milošević denied that he was directly involved in the protests, he actually had direct contact with the organisers. In Vojvodina, Mihalj Kertes particularly became a prominent figure due to his statement, "How can you Serbs be afraid of Serbia, when I, a Hungarian, am not afraid of Serbia?". The Socialist Alliance of Working People of Serbia (SSRNS), a popular front organisation subordinate to SKS, proposed Milošević to the position of president of the presidency of the Socialist Republic of Serbia and was successfully appointed on 8 May 1989. Constitutional changes The aftermath of the 1988–1989 anti-bureaucratic revolution saw amendments to the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution. As part of the 1974 constitution, Kosovo was granted full autonomy and was given equal voting status like the other six constituent republics. Following the protests in March 1989, Milošević proposed amendments that were soon accepted by the Assembly of SAP Kosovo and the Assembly of SR Serbia. The amendment revoked the powers that autonomous provinces Kosovo and Vojvodina received in the 1974 constitution. == Electoral system ==

At the time of the 1989 elections, Serbia's electoral system was in accordance with the 1974 constitution. Those who were 15 or older had the right to vote, and those who served in the army at the time of the elections were able to vote at their military stations. Invalid ballots were introduced with the 1989 elections; ballots that were blank or ballots that could not be used to determine who was voted for would be considered invalid. At the time of the 1989 elections, Serbia was still a one-party state but the 1989 elections were the first direct elections to be held since 1974. The parliamentary election was conducted on three separate days: 10, 12, and 30 November 1989. Local elections were conducted on the same days as the parliamentary elections. == Conduct ==

Following Milošević's appointment to the position of president of the presidency of SR Serbia, elections were called to dismiss any potential criticism on whether Milošević's appointment was "the wish of the people" (želja čitavog naroda). As part of the pre-election campaign, over 10,000 delegation body conferences were organised in Serbia. == Results ==

According to a Politika report from November 1989, 14,855 polling stations were opened during the elections. == Aftermath ==

Assembly leadership The Assembly of SR Serbia was constituted on 5 December 1989. Zoran Sokolović was elected president of the Assembly, while Vukašin Jokanović, Slobodan Janjić, and Đorđe Šćepančević were elected vice-presidents of the Assembly. Stanko Radmilović was elected prime minister of Serbia, while on 6 December, the Assembly of SR Serbia officially declared Milošević as the president of the presidency. Dissolution of SKJ (logo shown) ceased to exist as the result of the 14th congress Milošević proposed reforms to the Federal Assembly of Yugoslavia in 1989. These proposals were opposed by the Slovene delegation, which favoured keeping the composition in accordance with the 1974 constitution. The 14th congress, held in Sava Centar, Belgrade, was eventually organised for 20–23 January 1990. At the second plenary session, the Slovene delegation left the Congress, stating that they did not want to be responsible "for the agony of LC of Yugoslavia into which the current impositions of will and the bearers of those impositions are leading it" (ne žele biti suodgovorni za agoniju SK Jugoslavije u koju je vode sadašnja nametanja volje i nosioci tih nametanja). Pančevski adjourned the session to 3 a.m. for 23 January; on 23 January, the rest of Serbia's proposals were accepted. 1990 constitutional referendum While Serbia was still a one-party state, a referendum was organised in July 1990 on whether to adopt a new constitution or to hold multi-party elections first. A majority of voters voted in favour of adopting a new constitution despite Kosovo Albanians boycotting the referendum; the constitution was adopted in September 1990. The first multi-party elections were held in December 1990. With the adoption of the 1990 constitution, the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina were renamed to Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija and Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, respectively, while the Socialist Republic of Serbia was renamed to the Republic of Serbia. The power of the provinces were greatly reduced. Serbia's electoral system was also changed; the delegate system was abolished, Assembly of SR Serbia was renamed to the National Assembly, and the number of seats was decreased to 250. The president of the National Assembly was also the one who would schedule parliamentary and presidential elections. SKS merged with the Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia to create the Socialist Party of Serbia, while opposition parties, like the Democratic Party, Serbian Renewal Movement, People's Radical Party, and People's Peasant Party also registered as political parties. == References ==