February 2003 Montenegrin presidential election

Early presidential elections were held in the Republic of Montenegro on 9 February 2003, after the December 2002 elections had been declared invalid due to insufficient voter turnout.[1]

February 2003 Montenegrin presidential election

9 February 2003
Turnout	46.56% (election invalid)
Nominee Filip Vujanović Dragan Hajduković Party DPS Independent[lower-alpha 1] Popular vote 174,536 14,556 Percentage 84.82% 7.07%
President before election Filip Vujanović (acting) DPS Elected President Filip Vujanović (acting) DPS

Background

The low turnout was caused by a boycott by the major opposition parties, voters being disillusioned with politics, and poor weather conditions on polling day which resulted in 80 polling stations in mountainous areas being closed due to snow.[2]

Results

Although Dragan Hajduković was a member of the Greens of Montenegro, he ran as an independent.

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Filip Vujanović	Democratic Party of Socialists	174,536	84.82
Dragan Hajduković	Independent	14,556	7.07
Aleksandar Vasiljević	Serbian Radical Party	8,734	4.24
Milo Radulović	Natural Law Party	3,218	1.56
Jovan Pejović	Independent	1,076	0.52
Milan Šparović	Independent	1,037	0.50
Obrad Marković	Yugoslav Communists	894	0.43
Milivoje Bakić	Independent	942	0.46
Ilija Darmanović	Serb Radical Party of Montenegro	780	0.38
Mihailo Marković	Independent	456	0.22
Đorđije Milić	Independent	312	0.15
Invalid/blank votes		7,001	–
Total		212,781	100
Registered voters/turnout		456,981	46.56
Source: IFES

Aftermath

Although Filip Vujanović won the election with 85% of the vote, turnout was less than the required 50%, so the election was declared invalid.[1] Fresh elections were called for May 2003, when the turnout rule was abolished.

References

1. Republic of Montenegro Presidential Election of 2002-2003 Adam Carr
2. Montenegro poll fails BBC News, 9 February 2003

Notes

1. Greens of Montenegro member, formally an independent candidate.