Serbia: Who does (not) have a seat in parliament?

Parliaments are meant to represent different voices and interests of the people. However, they can also systematically exclude or underrepresent segments of the population. This study examines how effectively the Serbian Parliament fulfils its potential for comprehensive social representation. The electoral system ensures good representativeness for political lists, but the parliament lacks social balance. It favours men, highly educated, middle-aged individuals, residents of Belgrade, urban populations, and the upper classes. These systemic disparities persist across all parties, indicating systemic disparities. The electoral system should adopt preferential voting, enhance geographical representation by adding more electoral districts, and ensure MP replacements maintain gender balance. Political parties should offer more diverse candidates, including marginalized groups, and grant greater autonomy to local branches.