Politics of Yugoslavia

Country name:
conventional long form: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
conventional short form: Yugoslavia
local long form: Savezna Republika Jugoslavija
local short form: Jugoslavija

Government type: republic

Capital: Belgrade (Serbia), Podgorica (Montenegro)

Administrative divisions: 2 republics (republike, singular - republika); and 2 nominally autonomous provinces* (autonomn pokrajine, singular - autonomna pokrajina); Kosovo*, Montenegro, Serbia, Vojvodina*

Independence: 11 April 1992 (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or FRY formed as self-proclaimed successor to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or SFRY)

National holiday: St. Vitus Day, 28 June

Constitution: 27 April 1992

Legal system: based on civil law system

Suffrage: 16 years of age, if employed; 18 years of age, universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Slobodan MILOSEVIC (since 23 July 1997); note - Milan MILUTINOVIC is president of Serbia (since 21 December 1997); Milo DJUKANOVIC is president of Montenegro (since 21 December 1997)
head of government: Prime Minister Momir BULATOVIC (since 20 May 1998); Deputy Prime Ministers Nikola SAINOVIC (since 15 September 1995), Jovan ZEBIC (since 9 April 1998), and Vladan KUTLESIC (since 20 March 1997), Danilo VUKSANOVIC (since 20 May 1998), Tomislav NIKOLIC (since 12 August 1999), Maja Gojkovic (since 12 August 1999)
cabinet: Federal Executive Council
elections: president elected by the Federal Assembly for a four-year term; election last held 23 July 1997 (next to be held NA 2001); prime minister appointed by the president
election results: Slobodan MILOSEVIC elected president; percent of legislative vote - Slobodan MILOSEVIC 90%

Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Assembly or Savezna Skupstina consists of the Chamber of Republics or Vece Republika (40 seats - 20 Serbian, 20 Montenegrin; members distributed on the basis of party representation in the republican assemblies to serve four-year terms) and the Chamber of Citizens or Vece Gradjana (138 seats - 108 Serbian with half elected by constituency majorities and half by proportional representation, 30 Montenegrin with six elected by constituency and 24 proportionally; members serve four-year terms)
elections: Chamber of Republics - last held 24 December 1996 (next to be held NA 2000); Chamber of Citizens - last held 3 November 1996 (next to be held NA 2000)
election results: Chamber of Republics - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; note - seats are filled on a proportional basis to reflect the composition of the legislatures of the republics of Montenegro and Serbia; note - since 1998 Serbia has effectively barred Montenegro from its constitutional right to delegate deputies to the Chamber of Republics; Chamber of Citizens - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - SPS/JUL/ND 64, Zajedno coalition 22, DPS 20, SRS 16, NS 8, SVM 3, other 5; note - Zajedno coalition included SPO, DS, GSS

Judicial branch: Federal Court or Savezni Sud, judges are elected by the Federal Assembly for nine-year terms; Constitutional Court, judges are elected by the Federal Assembly for nine-year terms

Political parties and leaders: Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians or SVM [Jozsef KASZA]; Civic Alliance of Serbia or GSS [Goran SVILANOVIC, chairman]; Democratic Alliance of Kosovo or LDK [Dr. Ibrahim RUGOVA, president]; Democratic Alliance of Vojvodina Croats or DSHV [Bela TONKOVIC]; Democratic Community of Vojvodina Hungarians or DZVM [Sandor PALL]; Democratic League of Albanians [Rexhep QOSJA]; Democratic Party or DS [Nebojsa COVIC]; Democratic Party of Serbia or DSS [Vojislav KOSTUNICA]; Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro or DPS [Milo DJUKANOVIC]; League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina or LSV [Nenad CANAK]; Liberal Alliance of Montenegro [Slavko PEROVIC]; New Democracy or ND [Dusan MIHAJLOVIC]; Parliamentary Party of Kosovo or PPK [Bajram KOSUMI]; Party for the Democratic Progress of Kosovo or PPDK [Hashim THACI]; Party of Democratic Action or SDA [Dr. Sulejman UGLJANIN]; People's Party of Montenegro or NS [Novak KILIBARDA]; Reformist Democratic Party of Vojvodina or RDSV [Miodrag JSAKOV]; Serbian Radical Party or SRS [Vojislav SESELJ]; Serbian Renewal Movement or SPO [Vuk DRASKOVIC, president]; Serbian Socialist Party or SPS (former Communist Party) [Slobodan MILOSEVIC]; Social Democratic Party of Montenegro or SDP [Zarko RAKCEVIC]; Socialist People's Party of Montenegro or SNP [Momir BULATOVIC]; Yugoslav United Left or JUL [Mirjana MARKOVIC (MILOSEVIC's wife)]

Political pressure groups and leaders: National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo or LKCK [Sabit GASHI]; The People's Movement for Kosovo or LPK [leader NA]

International organization participation: ICFTU, IHO, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, IOC, ISO, ITU, NAM, OPCW, UNHCR

See also : Yugoslavia