50.24% 37.15% Popular vote 2,470,304 | Start date September 24, 2000 | |
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Winner Vojislav Koštunica | ||
General elections were held in Yugoslavia on 24 September 2000. They were the first free elections held in Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) since the breakup of SFR Yugoslavia in 1992, and the first free direct elections of any sort held in that country since 1927.
In the presidential election, official results initially showed Vojislav Koštunica of the Democratic Opposition led incumbent Slobodan Milošević of the Socialist Party of Serbia in the first round of voting, but short of the 50.01 percent needed to avoid a runoff election. However, Koštunica claimed he was not only ahead, but had finished just a few thousand votes over the threshold to win a first-round victory. Spontaneous protests broke out in support of Koštunica, and Milošević was forced to resign on 7 October and concede the presidency to Koštunica. Revised totals were subsequently released showing Koštunica had indeed won a narrow first-round victory, with just over 50.2 percent of the vote.
In the Federal Assembly elections the Democratic Opposition emerged as the largest party in the Chamber of Citizens, whilst the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro won the most seats in the Chamber of Republics.