Talk:1990 Serbian constitutional referendum/GA1

GA Review

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Nominator: Vacant0 (talk · contribs) 17:25, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

Reviewer: ZKang123 (talk · contribs) 13:32, 30 July 2024 (UTC)

Will pick this up.--ZKang123 (talk) 13:32, 30 July 2024 (UTC)

Copyedits

• Earwig picked up a quote directly attributed to The Los Angeles Times, but generally thus far no copyvio issues I'm picking up.

Lead

• the president of the presidency of SR Serbia – I did a trip on reading this, although I might understand it might be the official title. Wikilink president of the presidency and SR Serbia.
  •  Done
• and the establishment of the office of president of Serbia – and establishing the office of the president of Serbia
  •  Done
• Wikilink Assembly
  •  Done
• For the beginning of the second paragraph there seems to be more gaps in information. I gathered that Milošević implemented a few reforms through dialogue with some opposition parties, but dialogue broke down following the 13 June protest, which resulted in him calling for a referendum before multi-party elections, which I gather it would grant him, as president, to assume more executive powers than the Assembly. I suggest rewriting this part to be clearer.
  •  Done I've added "The Presidency of Serbia then proposed amendments, which was followed by an opposition protest in Belgrade on 13 June. Milošević declined to work with the opposition after the protest." This should fill in the gap.
• When the referendum was announced, they encouraged their supporters to boycott because they wanted the referendum to be held after the first multi-party election. – The opposition parties opposed holding the referendum before the multi-party elections and called for a boycott.
  •  Done
• After the referendum, the Kosovo Assembly was dissolved, and general elections were organised in December 1990, with Milošević's Socialist Party of Serbia obtaining a supermajority of seats in the National Assembly of Serbia. – Following the referendum, the Kosovo Assembly was dissolved, which was condemned by Amnesty International and the European Parliament. General elections were held in December 1990, in which Milošević's Socialist Party of Serbia obtained a supermajority despite winning less than 50% of the popular vote.
  • I might also try adding some details here about Kosovo's secession.
    •  Done
• I personally think the lead could see a bit more revamps and details, because there are some gaps and it might not be familiar to one (like me) who has little understanding of post-Yugoslavian history.
  •  Done I think that the lede has been improved now.

Background

• Explain the abbreviations SKS and SKJ in their first mentions in the body, not later.
  •  Done
• Slobodan Milošević came to power in Serbia at the 8th Session in September 1987. – would clarify it was SR Serbia. And his position at the time.
  •  Done The following sentence mentions that he was the president of SKS.
• I think the sentences "With Milošević now in power..." and " Following the protests" could be combined into: With Milošević in power, the anti-bureaucratic revolution, launched in support of Milošević's policies, overthrew the leadership in Montenegro, Vojvodina, and Kosovo with the pro-Milošević faction.
  •  Done
• Opposition parties in Serbia, which remained unregistered during the Slovenian and Croatian elections, began to form in late 1989 and early 1990. – Curious, what's the relevance of these parties being unregistered during the Slovenian and Croatian elections? Like, did they try to contest in these elections?
  •  Done Nope. I've amende that sentence.

Timeline

• I don't think timeline should be the section title here. Or is that convention for referendums and elections articles?
  • In fact I might rename this subsection as "election reforms and protests" and merge under the "background" section.
    •  Done I did not think of a better section title. The background would be huge if this section was to be merged with the background. I've changed the title to "Reforms and protests".
• Milošević proposed to detain their official, Vuk Drašković – proposed to, but wasn't successful? And why?
  •  Done
• He also argued that the constitutional referendum should be held before the first multi-party elections in Serbia, due to the potential scenario for Kosovo Albanians to gather many deputies in the Assembly – ...before the first multi-party elections in Serbia to avoid Kosovo Albanians gaining representation in the Assembly.
  •  Done
• For the sentence "After the announcement...", shift to the next paragraph
  •  Done
• Opposition parties were opposed to conducting the referendum before the first multi-party elections and urged that it be postponed; if the demand was not met, they encouraged their supporters to boycott the referendum – Opposition parties wanted the referendum postponed until after the first multi-party elections, urging a boycott if their demands were not met.
  •  Done
• labelled those opposed to the referendum as "anti-Serbian" and "pro-Albanian" – seems to be a common criticism state media goes back to... By the way at that point Yugoslavia hasn't formally dissolved?
  • Yugoslavia was dissolved in 1992.

Conduct and Proposed changes

• in accordance with the Law on Referendum that the Assembly adopted in 1989 – in accordance with the Law on Referendum that was adopted by the Assembly in 1989
  •  Done
• "ruling" and not "rulling"
  •  Done
• I think there should be more expansion on what exactly was criticised, as I also note the far-reaching powers given to the presidency.
  •  Done

Results and aftermath

• I would also be clearer when the Republic of Kosova was proclaimed, which I gathered was on 2 July
  •  Done
• Though I'm a bit confused - the article on Republic of Kosova said the declaration was on 22 September 1991 especially in the infobox. So I gather that's their next attempt after the Assembly of SAP Kosovo and its government were dissolved in response to the previous.
  • That's incorrect, the article also states that it was proclaimed on 2 July: "On 2 July, the vast majority of Albanian members of the Provincial Assembly returned to the Assembly, but it had been locked; so in the street outside they voted to declare Kosovo a Republic within the Yugoslav federation".
• Kosovo Albanians, 700,000 of whom were registered to vote, ultimately boycotted the 1990 general elections – The 700,000 registered Kosovo Albanian voters boycotted the 1990 general elections.
  •  Done
• For the sentence beginning with "During the campaign period of the general election...", combine with the lattar sentence
  • In fact I would rewrite as: During the campaign, the SPS had an immeasurable advantage due to the US$160 million it gained at its formation.
  • I think there should be another term for "infrastructure". I might say "fund" or something.
  • Is the term "immeasurable" in the source? I might opt for "considerable" instead.
    •  Done Yes, the term "immeasurable" is used → "To je, pored nesporne popularnosti, donosilo nemerljivu prednost u odnosu na položaj opozicionih partija." (That, in addition to its undeniable popularity, brought it an immeasurable advantage in relation to the position of opposition parties)
• television and radio stations and newspapers. – television, radio and newspapers.
  •  Done

Images

The only image is of Slobodan Milošević, which is under a creative commons license.

Sourcing

• The article is well-cited. I don't speak Serbian, and so my ability to review the sources lies at the whims of machine translators. Plenty of sources are offline or on proquest, but they are still high-quality sources, especially The Los Angeles Times. Based from what I can access, Refs 1, 39, 50 checks out, which is good enough for me.

Putting on hold. I think a few significant fixes are needed to clarify more on the background, especially in the lead, but I think I can follow what the article subject is about. I also need to bear in mind this was still before the dissolution of Yugoslavia proper, though in the twilight of it. I'm just amused of allegations of confederalism, which I guess is of Yugoslavia? And even within Serbia proper? A curious article, really, as it explores this turbulent period.--ZKang123 (talk) 13:15, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

@ZKang123: Thank you for reviewing the article. I've addressed all of your concerns. Vacant0 (talk • contribs) 15:09, 31 July 2024 (UTC)