General Information
At Stake in this Referendum:
The Republic of Serbia will hold a referendum* on 16 January 2022 in which citizens will decide in favor of or against a series of constitutional changes aimed at reforming the country’s judiciary. Specifically, the reforms seek to eliminate political interference in the election of judges and prosecutors. [1]
The referendum question is as follows:
“Are you in favor of confirming the act on changing the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia?”
In Serbia, questions posed in referenda are answered with the words “for” or “against” or the words “yes” or “no." [2]
*The Serbian National Assembly (Narodna skupština) passed a law on 25 November 2021 removing the 50 percent threshold required for a referendum to be considered valid. [3]
Government Structure:
- Chief of State: President Aleksandar VUČIĆ (since 31 May 2017)
- Head of Government: Prime Minister Ana BRNABIĆ (since 29 June 2017)
- Assembly: he Serbian National Assembly (Narodna skupština) is a unicameral legislature comprised of 250 deputies.
Electoral System:
- The President is elected for a five-year term using a two-round system. If a candidate fails to receive a majority of the ballot during the first round of voting, a second round is held between the two candidates who received the most votes to determine the winner. [4]
- The Prime Minister is elected by the National Assembly (Narodna skupština). [5]
- In the National Assembly (Narodna skupština), members are elected under a proportional representation system in a single, nationwide constituency, with closed party-list representation. All 250 seats in the unicameral legislature are distributed in proportion to the number of votes received by each party-list using the d’Hondt method. [6]
Last Election:
- The previous election was held on 21 June 2020.
Population and Registered Voters:
Gender Data:
- Female Population: 3,538,820 (January 2022 est.) [9]
- Is Serbia a signatory to CEDAW: No [10]
- Has Serbia ratified CEDAW: Yes (ratified 12 March 2001) [11]
- Gender Quota: The Serbian Parliament amended its electoral code in 2020, mandating that 40 percent of candidates on parliamentary and local-level electoral lists be reserved for female candidates. [12]
- Female candidates in this election: N/A
- Number of Female Legislators: 100 out of 250 [13]
- Human Development Index (HDI) Position: Rank 64 at 0.806 (2020) [14]
- Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Very low [15]
[1] https://www.ifimes.org/en/researches/2022-serbia-referendum-chance-for-a-turning-point-in-judiciary/4983?
[2] https://www.rik.parlament.gov.rs/tekst/en/287/referendums.php
[3] https://www.rferl.org/a/serbia-referendum-law-/31579860.html
[4] https://www.rik.parlament.gov.rs/tekst/en/275/presidential-elections.php
[5] https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/a/3/466026.pdf
[6] https://www.rik.parlament.gov.rs/tekst/en/269/parliamentary-elections.php
[7] https://www.stat.gov.rs/en-us/vesti/20210701-procenjen-broj-stanovnika-2020/?s=1801
[8] https://www.ifimes.org/en/researches/2022-serbia-referendum-chance-for-a-turning-point-in-judiciary/4983?
[9] https://www.stat.gov.rs/en-us/vesti/20210701-procenjen-broj-stanovnika-2020/?s=1801
[10] https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CEDAW&Lang=en
[11] https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CEDAW&Lang=en
[12] https://www.ipu.org/news/news-in-brief/2020-02/serbia-steps-up-efforts-gender-parity
[13] http://www.parlament.gov.rs/national-assembly/national-assembly-in-numbers/gender-structure.1745.html
[14] http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/SRB
[15] https://www.genderindex.org/country-profiles/
[16] https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CEDAW&Lang=en
[17] https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CEDAW&Lang=en
[18] http://www.electionaccess.org/en/resources/countries/gm/all/