NOVI SAD – In addition to the early parliamentary election and early local elections which were called today, early provincial election for the assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is expected to be called for 17 December as well. The deadlines are somewhat different than for other administrative levels, which is why the election still has not been called.
Just like the local elections, regular provincial elections in Vojvodina were expected to be held in June 2024. However, with the announcement of early parliamentary and local elections, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić mentioned that the provincial elections will be held six months earlier as well.
According to the Statute of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, the assembly can shorten its own mandate with the majority of votes, which is a mechanism that is not available to the national or local parliaments. Speaker of the provincial assembly is then expected to call early elections.
However, former Speaker of the provincial assembly István Pásztor, leader of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians party, passed away on 30 October. It is now unclear whether the assembly will elect a new Speaker to call the elections, or this will be done by a Deputy Speaker acting in his stead.
The second option would be quite a flexible interpretation of the official rules, portal Autonomija wrote.
Previous provincial elections, in 2020, were boycotted by the majority of the opposition parties and won dominantly by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). SNS won 76 out of 120 seats, followed by the Socialist Party of Serbia (13 seats) and the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (11 seats).
This will be the first time since 1992 that provincial and local elections in Vojvodina are held separately.
Seat of the provincial institutions of Vojvodina in Novi Sad
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
