Šerifov joined the DS in 1999, became a member of the party's municipal board in Zvezdara in 2000, and became president of the municipal board in 2006. He was first elected to the Zvezdara municipal assembly in the
2000 Serbian local elections, which the DS contested as part of the
Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS).[2]
Šerifov was a DS candidate in the
2007 Serbian parliamentary election, appearing in the 245th position out of 250 on the party's list. The list won sixty-four mandates, and Šerifov was subsequently chosen as a member of the DS's assembly delegation.[4][5] (From 2000 to 2011, all mandates in Serbian parliamentary elections were awarded to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions; Šerifov's specific position on the list – which was in any event mostly alphabetical – had no bearing on his chances of election.)[6] The DS formed an unstable
coalition government with the rival
Democratic Party of Serbia (Demokratska stranka Srbije, DSS) after the election, and Šerifov served as a supporter of the administration.
The DS–DSS coalition collapsed in early 2008, and a
new parliamentary election was called for May of that year. Šerifov appeared on the DS's For a European Serbia list and was given a mandate for a second term when the list won 102 seats.[7][8] The election results were initially inconclusive, but For a European Serbia ultimately formed a coalition government with the
Socialist Party of Serbia, and Šerifov again served as a government supporter. He also appeared on the DS's list in Zvezdara for the
2008 Serbian local elections, which took place concurrently with the parliamentary election.[9] As in 2004, he did not take a mandate.[10]
Mayor of Zvezdara
Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that parliamentary and local assembly mandates were awarded in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. Šerifov was given the ninety-second position on the DS's Choice for a Better Life list in the
2012 Serbian parliamentary election.[11] The list won sixty-seven seats, and he was not returned. He also appeared in the second position on the DS's list for Zvezdara in the
2012 Serbian local elections and was elected when the list won twenty-three seats.[12][13] The DS formed a local coalition government with the
Liberal Democratic Party and the Socialists, and Šerifov was chosen as mayor.[14] He served in this role for the next four years.
He led the DS list for Zvezdara in the
2016 Serbian local elections and was re-elected when the list won seven mandates. The Progressives won the election, and the DS served in opposition.[16][17][18] Šerifov resigned his seat in Zvezdara on 1 June 2016.[19][20] He was not a candidate in Belgarde in 2018.
^Šerifov appeared in the ninth position. See Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 48 Number 24 (8 September 2004), p. 38. The list won a plurality victory with twenty out of fifty-three mandates. See Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 48 Number 28 (21 September 2004), p. 2. In this election, one-third of mandates were given to candidates on successful lists in numerical order and the other two-thirds distributed to candidates at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions. See
Law on Local Elections, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 33/2002; made available via
LegislationOnline, accessed 29 May 2021. Šerifov was not automatically elected and was not, on this occasion, given an optional mandate. See Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 48 Number 33 (23 November 2004), p. 13.
^Serbia's
Law on the Election of Representatives (2000) stipulated that parliamentary mandates would be awarded to electoral lists (Article 80) that crossed the
electoral threshold (Article 81), that mandates would be given to candidates appearing on the relevant lists (Article 83), and that the submitters of the lists were responsible for selecting their parliamentary delegations within ten days of the final results being published (Article 84). See Law on the Election of Representatives, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 35/2000, made available via
LegislationOnline, accessed 28 February 2017.
^He appeared in the third position on the list. See Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 52 Number 13 (30 April 2008), p. 9. The list won twenty-four mandates. See Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 52 Number 15 (12 May 2008), p. 3.
^Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 52 Number 22 (4 July 2008), p. 3. For this municipal election, the "one-third"/"two-thirds" rule was abandoned, and all mandates were awarded at the discretion of sponsoring parties or coalitions. See
Law on Local Elections (2007), Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 129/2007); made available via
LegislationOnline, accessed 29 May 2021.
^Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 58 Number 15 (5 March 2014), p. 16.
^Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 60 Number 28 (13 April 2016), p. 10.
^Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 60 Number 34 (25 April 2016), pp. 8–9; Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 60 Number 37 (28 April 2016), p. 51.