RIK Preliminary Results: Student List Wins 140 Seats
RIK's 70th session put preliminary results at 97.56 percent of polling stations: 52.71 percent for the Student List, 39.17 for United Serbia, six minority seats.
The Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) set preliminary results of the October 25 parliamentary elections at its 70th session on October 26, based on the situation at 8 p.m. and on 97.56 percent of processed polling stations. RIK Chairman Vladimir Dimitrijevic said that translates into 140 seats for the Student List and 104 for the Aleksandar Vucic - United Serbia list. The results are not final until RIK proclaims them.
Dimitrijevic named the seat counts while announcing the results, as reported by Politika. RIK’s page on the session publishes the votes and percentages for each list.
How many votes have been processed?
A total of 8,187 polling stations have been processed. The processed material lists 6,253,475 registered voters. According to Politika’s account, Dimitrijevic said 4,304,641 voters turned out, 4,301,985 cast ballots, and 4,246,513 of those ballots were valid and 55,472 invalid.
How are votes and seats divided?
The three lists with the most votes:
- Student List - Students Win: 2,267,615 votes, 52.71 percent, 140 seats
- Aleksandar Vucic - United Serbia: 1,685,022 votes, 39.17 percent, 104 seats
- Ivica Dacic - Stability Factor: 93,280 votes, 2.17 percent, no seats
A total of 140 seats is an absolute majority in the 250-member National Assembly. Dacic’s list did not clear the three percent threshold. Politika’s opening paragraph puts the Student List share at 52.17 percent, while later in the same article, like RIK, it says 52.71 percent. RIK’s official figure is 52.71.
Six seats went to national minority lists, which are exempt from the threshold and instead face a natural threshold:
- Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians - Dr. Balint Pastor: 34,762 votes, 0.81 percent, two seats
- Albanian Coalition: 27,670 votes, 0.64 percent, two seats
- Rasim Ljajic - Humane: 20,544 votes, 0.48 percent, one seat
- SDA of Sandzak - Guardians of Sandzak: 12,399 votes, 0.29 percent, one seat
Together with 140 and 104, that makes all 250 seats. Among the lists left without seats are Dr. Milos Jovanovic’s Authentic Right with 38,525 votes (0.90 percent), Bogoljub Karic’s list with 19,600 (0.46 percent), European Serbia of Marinika Tepic and Zdravko Ponos with 12,143 (0.28 percent), and Usame Zukorlic’s list with 11,852 (0.28 percent). Every other list on the RIK roster has less than 0.2 percent. For the Russian list the sources differ: RIK gives 6,378 votes, Politika 6,387.
Politika also carries Dimitrijevic’s words after the Student List result was read out:
“Congratulations on my behalf and on behalf of the commission, since I still represent the commission.”
What changed from the earlier count?
RIK had earlier published a count at 8,135 processed stations: the Student List with 2,246,423 votes (52.65 percent), United Serbia with 1,673,241 (39.22 percent), and Dacic’s list with 92,532 (2.17 percent). Between that count and 8,187 stations, the Student List gained 21,192 votes and United Serbia 11,781.
In the first RIK count we published, the one from 1:10 a.m., the Student List stood at 48.52 percent and United Serbia at 43.26. For the minority lists we had so far carried only early estimates: three seats for the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians and one or none for the Albanians. By RIK’s figures, both have two.
What comes before the final results?
Local electoral commissions produce their summary reports within 96 hours of polling stations closing, and RIK itself produces the summary report for voting abroad. RIK publishes the overall report on the election results within 96 hours of receiving all summary reports, and it assigns seats to candidates by decision within ten days of publishing that report.
