Democratic Party of Serbia

The Democratic Party of Serbia (Serbian: Демократска странка Србије, romanized: Demokratska stranka Srbije, pronounced [demǒkratskaː strânka sr̂bije]; abbr. ДCC / DSS) is a national-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Serbia.[2]

Democratic Party of Serbia

Демократска странка Србије
Demokratska stranka Srbije
LeaderMiloš Jovanović
FounderVojislav Koštunica
FoundedJuly 26, 1992 (1992-07-26)
Split fromDemocratic Party
HeadquartersBelgrade
Membership (2011)100,000[1]
IdeologyNational conservatism[2]
Christian democracy[2]
Euroscepticism[3]
Anti-globalization[4]
Military neutrality[4]
[5]
Political positionCentre-right[6][7]
to right-wing[8][9]
National Assembly
0 / 250
Assembly of Vojvodina
5 / 120
City Assembly of Belgrade
0 / 110
Website
www.dss.rs

History

Foundation

The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) was founded in 1992 by a breakaway nationalist faction of the Democratic Party (DS), which advocated involvement in the Democratic Movement of Serbia (DEPOS).[10]

Founding members of the party were Vojislav Koštunica, Vladeta Janković, Đurđe Ninković, Draško Petrović, Mirko Petrović and Vladan Batić. The founding assembly was held on July 26, 1992 and elected Vojislav Koštunica as its first president. The first party assembly was held on December 5, 1992 and adopted the party's first manifesto.

Vojislav Koštunica, founder and the first president of the party

1992–1999

The DSS first competed in the December 1992 parliamentary elections. As part of DEPOS, the DSS received 18 seats in the National Assembly of Serbia - which grew to 20 after non-party-aligned members of DEPOS decided to leave the Parliament. Soon, similar differences of opinion over ways in which to fight the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia and the DSS's belief in Serbian nationalism led to a division in DEPOS too. The DSS left the coalition in mid-1993.[10]

Next parliamentary elections in Serbia were called prematurely for December 19, 1993. This time DSS ran independently and received seven seats. This was a period of the party's political stagnation as most nationalist votes went to the Serbian Radical Party. It did not have enough seats to significantly influence matters in Serbia and was left without representation in the Federal Assembly.

In 1996, opposition Zajedno (Together) coalition was created. DSS entered the 1996 federal parliamentary elections as part of the coalition and won four seats in the Federal Assembly.[10]

Post–2000

The DSS was a founding member of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) whose presidential candidate and leader of the DSS, Vojislav Koštunica defeated Slobodan Milosevic in the 2000 Yugoslav presidential election held on 24 September 2000 winning 50.24% of the vote and defeating Slobodan Milošević who contested the election results.[10]

In the December 2000 Serbian parliamentary election, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia won 64.7% of the popular vote, securing 176 seats in the National Assembly. The DSS was allocated 45 seats. In the ensuing Democratic Opposition of Serbia coalition government, DSS had very little influence with just two cabinet-level ministerial posts, that of Deputy Prime Minister (held by Aleksandar Pravdić) and Minister of Health (held by Obren Joksimović) as well as very few second tier posts of Deputy Minister. The DSS was unhappy with the direction of the DOS Government policy and split from the coalition in late 2001.[11]

In the 2003 parliamentary election, the DSS won 17.7% of the popular vote, translating into 53 seats in the parliament. Of these 53 seats, three went to the People's Democratic Party (NDS), one to the Serbian Liberal Party and one to the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS).

In 2004 NDS left the coalition with DSS, leaving it with 50 seats in the National Assembly. However, in 2005 both the NDS and the SDS merged into the DSS, bringing its size to 52 seats in the National Assembly.

The DSS won 47 seats in coalition with New Serbia in the 2007 parliamentary election, receiving 667,615 votes or 16.55% of the total popular vote. DSS itself received 33 seats in the parliament, and formed a group together with New Serbia, the Serbian Democratic Renewal Movement and United Serbia.

The leader of the DSS since its foundation, Vojislav Koštunica, was the Prime Minister of Serbia between March 2004 and July 2008 heading up two coalition governments. The first coalition government between March 2004 and July 2007 in coalition with Serbian Renewal Movement and G17 Plus. The second coalition government between July 2007 and July 2008 in coalition with the Democratic Party and G17 Plus.

In the early 2008 parliamentary election held in May 2008 following the self-proclaimed declaration of independence by the Serbian province of Kosovo, the DSS won 30 seats in the National Assembly in coalition with New Serbia. It won 480,987 votes representing 11.62% of the electorate. In coalition with New Serbia 2008–10, it formed the second largest opposition block in the Serbian parliament.

Since 2008 the DSS has positioned itself as a staunch defender of the premise that Kosovo should remain within Serbia (in some shape or form) and that further negotiations must take place to determine a workable political outcome regarding Kosovo and Serbia. Because of this approach, the DSS is against Serbia joining the EU if in return it is bound to acknowledge the legitimacy of the self-proclaimed independent Kosovo.

The party has become increasingly nationalist and eurosceptic since the independence of Kosovo. In 2012, Vojislav Koštunica stated that the EU is destroying Serbia and that Serbia should abstain on EU membership. The party subsequently left the European People's Party in February 2012.[12]

The party competed independently in the 2012 parliamentary elections in May 2012 and received around 7% of the popular vote (273,532 votes) translating into 21 Members of Parliament.

In 2014, founder and first president of DSS Vojislav Koštunica left the party over its abandonment of the idea of political neutrality. Subsequently, Slobodan Samardžić, Dragan Jočić, Vladeta Janković and Dejan Mihajlov also announced their departure in response to differences of opinion over the course of DSS.

On 26 January 2021, DSS and the Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia (POKS) signed an agreement on joint action and agreed on a joint political-program platform called the National Democratic Alternative.[13]

Presidents of the Democratic Party of Serbia (1992–present)

# President Born–died Term start Term end
1 Vojislav Koštunica1944–26 July 199219 March 2014
2 Sanda Rašković Ivić1956–12 October 20142 August 2016
3 Miloš Jovanović1976–21 December 2016Incumbent

Acting leaders

Ref:[14]

Electoral results

Parliamentary elections

National Assembly of Serbia
Election Leader # of votes % of vote # of seats +/- Coalitions Status
1992 Vojislav Koštunica 797,831 16.89%
18 / 250
18 DEPOS opposition
1993 218.056 5.07%
7 / 250
11 opposition
1997 Election boycott
0 / 250
7 no seats
2000 2,402,387 64.09%
45 / 250
45 DOS government 2000–01
opposition 2001–04
2003 678,031 17.73%
53 / 250
8 government
2007 667,615 16.55%
33 / 250
20 With NS-JS government
2008 480,987 11.62%
21 / 250
12 With NS opposition
2012 273,532 6.99%
21 / 250
0 opposition
2014 152,436 4.24%
0 / 250
21 no seats
2016 Sanda Rašković Ivić 190,530 5.04%
6 / 250
6 With Dveri opposition
2020 Miloš Jovanović 72,085 2.24%
0 / 250
6 Metla 2020 no seats

Years in government (1992– )

Presidential elections

President of Serbia
Election year # Candidate 1st round votes % 2nd round votes % Notes
1992 2nd Milan Panić 1,516,693 32.11 Independent candidate; support
1997
Election boycott
Sep–Oct 2002 1st Vojislav Koštunica 1,123,420 30.89 1,974,450 68.4 Election declared invalid due to low turnout
Dec 2002 1st Vojislav Koštunica 1,699,098 57.66 Election declared invalid due to low turnout
2003
Election boycott
2004 4th Dragan Maršićanin 414,971 13.31 Government Coalition (Democratic Party of Serbia, G17 Plus, Serbian Renewal Movement, New Serbia)
2008 3rd Velimir Ilić 305,828 7.43 Supported by: Democratic Party of Serbia, United Serbia, Serbian Renewal Movement and List for Sandžak
2012 4th Vojislav Koštunica 290,861 7.44%
2017 10th Aleksandar Popović 38,167 1.04%
President of FR Yugoslavia
Election year Candidate # 1st round popular vote % of popular vote # 2nd round popular vote % of popular vote
2000 Vojislav Koštunica 1st 2,470,304 50.24% N/A

Positions held

Major positions held by Democratic Party of Serbia members:

President of FR YugoslaviaYears
Vojislav Koštunica 2000–2003
Prime Minister of SerbiaYears
Vojislav Koštunica 2004–2008
President of the Assembly of Serbia and MontenegroYears
Zoran Šami 2004–2006
President of the National Assembly of SerbiaYears
Dragan Maršićanin
2001
2004

Notable members

See also

References

  1. "Partijsku knjižicu ima više od milion građana" (in Serbian). Blic. 30 December 2011.
  2. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2020). "Serbia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  3. Antonić, Slobodan (2012). "Eurosceptism in Serbia" (PDF). Serbian Political Thought. Institute of Political Studies in Belgrade. 5 (1): 69.
  4. "Програм странке".
  5. "Miloš Jovanović predao Skupštini predlog zakona o vojnoj neutralnosti Srbije". N1. FoNet. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  6. "Serbian Opposition Boycotts Parliament, Demands Snap Election". Voice of America. 11 February 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  7. Borger, Julian; Beaumont, Peter (18 February 2008). "Kosovo: the key figures". The Guardian.
  8. "Vukadinović: DSS, Dveri i SRS nisu ekstremna desnica". www.blic.rs.
  9. Stojarová, Věra; Emerson, Peter, eds. (30 October 2009). "Political parties in Serbia" (PDF). Party politics in the Western Balkans. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415550994. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  10. "Izbori 2012 - Stranke" (in Serbian). B92. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  11. "Serbia vote: Parties and players". BBC News. 24 December 2003. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  12. "DSS napustio Evropsku narodnu partiju" (in Serbian). Radio-televizija Srbije. 25 February 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  13. "DSS i POKS potpisali Sporazum o zajedničkom delovanju - Politika - Dnevni list Danas". www.danas.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  14. "Serbian ministries, etc". rulers.org. B. Schemmel. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
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