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Local elections in Šumadija and Western Serbia will be held in or before 30 June 2024, as part of the 2024 Serbian local elections.

Background

Summary of previous (2020) election results in Šumadija and Western Serbia

Events that occurred since then (both national and in Šumadija and Western Serbia)

Electoral system

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.

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.

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.

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. To vote, a person has to be a citizen and resident of Serbia and at least 18 years old. A voter could only vote in the municipality of their residence. 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.

Election date

In April 2023, newspaper Danas reported that snap parliamentary elections, local elections, Vojvodina provincial election, and the Belgrade City Assembly election could be held as early as in November 2023. At a press conference in July 2023, Aleksandar Vučić, the president of Serbia and former president of SNS, said that an early parliamentary election "could take place in September or December if the opposition parties agree. And if not, we will have general elections in April or May 2024, to be held concurrently with the Vojvodina provincial election and the regular local elections". By law, the Vojvodina provincial election and regular local elections could be held as late as 30 June 2024. Darko Glišić, the president of the SNS executive board, stated that the local and provincial elections will be held in the first half of 2024.

Abbreviations

Name		Abbreviation
	Democratic Party	DS
	Healthy Serbia	ZS
	New Democratic Party of Serbia	NDSS
	Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia	POKS
	Movement of Free Citizens	PSG
	Party of Freedom and Justice	SSP
	People's Party	Narodna
	Serbia Centre	SRCE
	Serbian Movement Dveri	Dveri
	Serbian Party Oathkeepers	SSZ
	Social Democratic Party	SDS
	Together	Zajedno
	Together for Kragujevac	ZZK

Results and campaign

Moravica District

Čačak

In May 2023, Nova srpska politička misao conducted an opinion poll for the local election.

Polling firm	Date of publishment	Sample size	SNS–led coalition	SPS–JS	NS	NADA		Narodna	GGIĆ	Dveri	DS	SSP	Others	Lead
						DSS/NDSS	POKS
NSPM	15 May	–	34.0	10.0	5.0	3.3	–	15.0	10.3	5.7	2.7	2.2	11.8	19.0
2020 election	21 June	–	69.1	11.5	6.3	–	5.4	–	–	–	–	–	7.7	57.6

Šumadija District

Kragujevac

In June 2023, a group of opposition parties and citizens' groups, which included DS, Narodna, POKS, PSG, SDS, SRCE, SSP, Zajedno, ZS, and ZZK, announced their joint participation in the local election in Kragujevac. Former mayors of Kragujevac Veroljub Stevanović and Vlatko Rajković were one of the signatories. Dveri, NDSS, and SSZ refused to join.