LAW ON ELECTING
THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
(1990 as
amended 1992, 2002, 2003, and February 2004)
consolidated
version
The President of the Republic of Serbia (hereinafter:
President of the Republic) shall be elected or recalled in accordance with the
provisions of the Law on Electing Representatives, unless otherwise stated in
this Law.
The right to elect the President of the Republic
shall be held by citizens of the Republic of Serbia, who are simultaneously
citizens of Yugoslavia, who have reached the age of 18, who have business
capacity, and reside in the territory of the Republic of Serbia.
Citizens of the Republic of Serbia
who have reached the age of 18, have business capacity and have resided in the
territory of the Republic of Serbia for at least one year before the date
elections are held, may be nominated for President of the Republic.
Candidates for President of the Republic may be
nominated by political parties or other political organisations that have
collected at least 10, 000 signatures from voters in the Republic.
A group of citizen may also nominate a candidate
for President of the Republic if it has collected at least 10, 000 signatures
from voters in the Republic.
Political parties or other political
organisations may nominate candidates for President of the Republic separately
or jointly.
The President of the National Assembly shall
call the elections for President of the Republic on the same day when the
conditions stated in Articles 86 and 87 of the Serbian Constitution occur.
From the day of calling the elections till the
day of carrying out the elections for the President of the Republic cannot pass
less than 30 nor more than 90 days.
The Bodies with competency of implementing the
electoral procedure or recalling of the President of the republic are: the
Republican Election Commission, polling boards and election commissions of the
local self-government units.
Election commission of the local self-government
unit is to:
1. organise technical preparations for carrying the elections;
2. establish polling boards and appoint the chairman and
members of the polling board;
3. take over the election material from the Republican Election
Commission and together with verified extract from the voters’ register deliver
it by the protocol to the polling boards;
4. take over the election material from the polling boards and
together with the verified extract from the voters’ register delivers it by the
protocol to the Republican Election Commission.
A voter may sign a proposal for only one
candidate.
Candidate proposals for President of the
Republic shall be submitted to the Republic Electoral Commission no later than
20 days before the day elections are to be held, on a special form containing:
1. The name of the
submitter with the signature of an authorised person;
2. The name of the
candidate, his profession, age, place of residence and address;
3. The name, place
of residence and address, personal number and signature of the required number
of voters from Article 3 of this Law.
Confirmation of the candidate's suffrage, the
candidate's written acceptance of candidacy and confirmation of the candidate's
residence shall be submitted along with the nomination.
The submitter of the nomination for President of
the Republic may withdraw the nomination no later than the day upon which the
candidacy list for President of the Republic is concluded.
Every candidate may withdraw his candidacy up to
the day upon which the candidacy list for President of the Republic is
concluded.
Withdrawal of the nomination or renunciation of
candidacy shall be submitted in written form.
The Republic Electoral Commission shall conclude
the list of candidates for President of the Republic containing the names of
all nominated candidates in alphabetical order, no later than five days of
expiry of the nomination deadline.
The list of candidates for President of the
Republic shall contain: the names of the candidates and the names of the
political parties or other political organisations that have nominated the
candidates.
If a candidate has been nominated by a group of
citizens, this fact shall be noted next to his name on the list of candidates.
The Republic Electoral Commission shall publish
the list of candidates for President of the Republic no later than the day
following the day upon which the list is concluded.
The President of the Republic shall be elected
by secret vote on ballots containing:
1. the symbol of the Republic of Serbia;
2. the information that it is a ballot for President of the
Republic, and
3. the names of all confirmed candidates from the list of
candidates placed in the established order, with a note regarding the submitter
and with an ordinal number next to each name.
Article 5.đ
A voter may vote for only one candidate whose
name is on the ballot.
Voting shall consist of circling the ordinal
number before the name of the candidate being
voted for.
Should a ballot contain a circle around the
candidate's name or around both his ordinal number and name, such ballot shall
be considered valid.
The following shall be considered a null and
void ballot: an unmarked ballot, a ballot marked in such a way that it is
impossible to determine with certainty for which candidate the ballot has been
cast, a ballot on which more than one candidate has been circled, as well as a
ballot on which the name of a new candidate has been written in.
In the case of simultaneous carrying of
elections for representatives of the National Assembly and for the President of
the Republic, the polling boards formed according to the Law regulating the
elections of representatives shall directly run the elections for the President
of the Republic as well, and perform other duties at the polling place
connected with that election, according to the provisions of the Law.
Article 5.ž
Results of the elections for the President of
the Republic are to be announced by the Republican Election Commission within
96 hours from the end of voting.
In the period from opening to closing the
polling stations, the Republican Election Commission is to announce figures on
the progress of the elections that are received from the Republican Statistical
Bureau and respectively from other authorities responsible of carrying the
elections.
From the end of voting until an announcement of
the election results, the Republican Election commission is to announce
preliminary figures on the election results upon the report received from the
Republican Statistical Bureau.
Article 5.z
The candidate who receives the majority of votes
from voters that voted shall be elected President of the Republic.
The number of voters who voted is to be
established on the basis of the number of ballots that are in the ballot box.
If and none of the candidates received the
majority of votes from voters that voted, voting shall be repeated within 15
days from the day of holding the last polling.
In the second round of voting the two candidates
who received the largest number of the votes or more candidates that received
equal and at the same time the largest number of the votes shall take part.
On the repeated voting, the candidate that
receives the largest number of the votes regardless of how many voters voted
will be elected President of the Republic.
Article 5.i
Between two rounds of the elections, additions to
the extract of the Voters’ Register are made by the Republican Election
commission, on the basic of the decisions submitted by the municipal courts at
least 72 hours before the day of the repeated voting.
Article 5.j
If the elections for the President of the
Republic were unsuccessful, The President of the National Assembly of the
Republic of Serbia is to call the new elections within 60 days from the day
when the unsuccessful elections were held.
If the 60 days deadline starting from the day
when the unsuccessful elections for the President of the Republic were held
expires due to the termination of the mandate of the National Assembly, the new
President of the National Assembly shall call the new elections for the
President of the Republic within 60 days from the day of his/her election.
Articles 6, 7,
8, 9
(Repealed)
The President of the Republic may be recalled.
The procedure to recall the President of the
Republic shall be initiated by the National Assembly, should two-thirds of the
total number of representatives concur.
The recall procedure shall be carried out in the
same way as the procedure to elect the President of the Republic.
The President of the Republic shall be recalled
should the majority of the total number of registered voters in the Republic so
vote.
(Repealed)
Elections for President of the Republic in 1990
shall be called by the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of
Serbia. These elections shall be held on the day that representatives are
elected.
Elections for President of the Republic shall be
held in the same premises in which elections for representatives are held,
except with a separate ballot box.
This Law shall go into effect the day following
the day it is published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia.
"In the event of an immediate danger of
war or state of war, the term of office of the President of the Republic shall
be extended for the period this state lasts, and/or until the conditions are
created which make possible the election of the President of the Republic"
- the excerpt from the Article 86 of the Serbian Constitution;
"The term of office of the President of the Republic shall cease before the expiry of his election period in the event of recall or his resignation" - the excerpt from the Article 87 of the Serbian Constitution.