THE PARTY SYSTEMS IN SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
THE PARTY SYSTEMS IN SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO

Author(s): Vladimir Goati
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Governance, Government/Political systems, Electoral systems
Published by: CEDET Centar za demokratsku tranziciju
Keywords: Party system; political distance; consensus; polarized pluralism
Summary/Abstract: The formation of political parties in Serbia and Montenegro began in 1989, during the previous regime and within the framework of the SFRY. The electoral systems in the two republics were formed after the first pluralist elections in 1990, where the most successful parties both in Serbia and Montenegro were the previous ruling parties the SPS and the SK CG (Alliance of Communists, which changed its name to the DPS in 1991). In both republics the total number of party members from the whole observed period (1990-2002) was 8% to 9% of the population, more than in most of the countries of post-communist South-Eastern Europe. Also, the parties that were in power in the previous regime have stayed longer in power in Serbia and Montenegro than in most other post-communist countries. The party systems of both Yugoslav republics have, in spite of many differences, one significant similarity: these systems belong to the polarized pluralism type, which points to the conclusion that both in Serbia and Montenegro a basic consensus between the key political participants does not exist.

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