THE ELECTORAL LIST IN THE ELECTORAL SYSTEMS OF THE COUNTRIES ESTABLISHED ON THE GROUND OF THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA IN ONE COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The topic of the exploration is the electoral list in the electoral systems in the states
created in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The paper does a comparative analysis of one
of the most significant components and characteristics of the electoral systems in the ex-SFRY
states. It should be noted that at the very beginning of the introduction of party pluralism in
these countries, 30 years ago, they experimented with the character of the electoral system.
Here, in the first place, the conjuncture came to the fore, more precisely, electoral
systems were established that suited the leading political parties. However, as the
democratization of these societies gradually developed and the influence of the ruling
political elites eroded, a process of gradual re-examination and re-evaluation of the
electoral system followed, i.e. a gradual transition to a proportional electoral model
took place. When applying this model in the countries of the former Yugoslavia,
there are numerous variations. The differences are referred to the electoral formula,
district magnitude, electoral threshold, and what this paper will be abstracted on – the
electoral list. However, the most common definition of these electoral systems is that
they are electoral systems that can be classified in the group of party-list systems, as
one of the variations of the proportional electoral model. In the theoretical literature,
there are several approaches to the division of electoral lists –open, closed, free , and
flexible in one more essential sense, but for analytical purposes in this paper, we will
use the more generalized division of open and closed lists.