The New Democratic Party of Serbia ( sr, Нова демократска странка Србије, Nova demokratska stranka Srbije, , NDSS or New DSS) is a
national-conservative
National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, ...
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
in
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
.
Initially known and formed as Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), the party was formed as a
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
split from the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
(DS), and has played a key role in the opposition during the 1990s. It was a part of the
"Together" coalition and was later a founding member of the
Democratic Opposition of Serbia
The Democratic Opposition of Serbia ( sr, Демократска oпозиција Cрбије, Demokratska opozicija Srbije), commonly referred to as DOS, was a wide alliance of political parties in Serbia, intent on ousting the ruling Socialist ...
(DOS). Its first leader,
Vojislav Koštunica
Vojislav Koštunica ( sr-cyrl, Војислав Коштуница, ; born 24 March 1944) is a Serbian former politician who served as the last president of FR Yugoslavia from 2000 to 2003 and as the prime minister of Serbia from 2004 to 2008.
...
, was elected
president of Yugoslavia
The president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, or the president of the Republic for short, was the head of state of that country from 14 January 1953 to 4 May 1980. Josip Broz Tito was the only person to occupy the office. Tito ...
in 2000, a role which he served until 2003. DSS left the DOS government in 2001, and served in the opposition until the
2003 parliamentary election, after which it managed to form a government with other right-wing parties. Koštunica was appointed prime minister, and after 2008, it went to the opposition again after being unable to form a government. It saw its decline in the 2010s, and it failed to pass the threshold in the
2014 parliamentary election, which led to Koštunica resigning from the position as party leader. He was replaced by
Sanda Rašković Ivić, and in
2016, DSS managed to enter the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
again, this time in a coalition with
Dveri
The Serbian Movement "Dveri" ( sr-Cyr, Српски покрет Двери, Srpski pokret Dveri), commonly just known as Dveri (), is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Serbia. It its currently led by Boško Obradović, ...
. Rašković Ivić was ousted after the parliamentary election, and was replaced by
Miloš Jovanović
Miloš Jovanović (, ; born 19 August 1976) is a Serbian politician, lawyer, and a political scientist. He is the president of the New Democratic Party of Serbia, and a docent at the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade. He was a presidential ...
as president of the party.
A former member of the
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...
, it maintained a
centre-right
Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...
and moderate conservative image until the early 2010s, when the party shifted to a more right-wing and
eurosceptic position. It leads the
National Democratic Alternative (NADA) coalition, which took part in the
2022 general election.
History
1992–2000
The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) was founded in 1992 by a breakaway
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
faction of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
(DS), which advocated involvement in the
Democratic Movement of Serbia
The Democratic Movement of Serbia ( sr, Demokratski pokret Srbije) or DEPOS (''DE'' - from Serbian "Demokratija" - Democracy, ''PO -'' from Serbian "Pokret" - Movement and ''S'' derived from "Serbia"), was a big tent political coalition founded in ...
(DEPOS).
Founding members of the party were
Vojislav Koštunica
Vojislav Koštunica ( sr-cyrl, Војислав Коштуница, ; born 24 March 1944) is a Serbian former politician who served as the last president of FR Yugoslavia from 2000 to 2003 and as the prime minister of Serbia from 2004 to 2008.
...
,
Vladeta Janković,
Đurđe Ninković
Djurdje Ninković (born 1942) is a lawyer, legal commentator and political activist who was a founding member of the Democratic Party (DS) in Serbia who joined the Founding Committee of the Democratic Party in December 1989. From late December th ...
,
Draško Petrović
Draško Petrović, Master's degree in Europe, MSc ( sr-cyr, Драшко Петровић; born 1965 in Belgrade) is a Serbian politician and businessman.
He graduated from the University of Belgrade's University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, Law S ...
,
Mirko Petrović and
Vladan Batić. The founding assembly was held on 26 July 1992 and elected
Vojislav Koštunica
Vojislav Koštunica ( sr-cyrl, Војислав Коштуница, ; born 24 March 1944) is a Serbian former politician who served as the last president of FR Yugoslavia from 2000 to 2003 and as the prime minister of Serbia from 2004 to 2008.
...
as its first president. The first party assembly was held on 5 December 1992 and adopted the party's first
manifesto
A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...
.
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
The National Assembly ( sr-cyr, Народна скупштина, Narodna skupština, ) is the unicameral legislature of Serbia. The assembly is composed of 250 deputies who are proportionally elected to four-year terms by secret ballot. The a ...
- 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
The Socialist Party of Serbia ( sr, Социјалистичка партија Србије, Socijalistička partija Srbije, SPS) is a political party in Serbia. It is led by Ivica Dačić.
It was founded in 1990 as the direct successor to t ...
and the DSS's belief in
Serbian nationalism
Serbian nationalism asserts that Serbs are a nation and promotes the cultural and political unity of Serbs. It is an ethnic nationalism, originally arising in the context of the general rise of nationalism in the Balkans under Ottoman rule, und ...
led to a division in DEPOS too. The DSS left the coalition in mid-1993.
Next parliamentary elections in Serbia were called prematurely for 19 December 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
The Serbian Radical Party ( sr-cyrl, Српска радикална странка, Srpska radikalna stranka, ''SRS'') is an ultranationalist political party in Serbia. It was founded in 1991, and its founder and current leader is Vojislav ...
. 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.
2000–2008
The DSS was a founding member of the
Democratic Opposition of Serbia
The Democratic Opposition of Serbia ( sr, Демократска oпозиција Cрбије, Demokratska opozicija Srbije), commonly referred to as DOS, was a wide alliance of political parties in Serbia, intent on ousting the ruling Socialist ...
(DOS) whose presidential candidate and leader of the DSS, Vojislav Koštunica defeated
Slobodan Milosevic
Slobodan ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан) is a Serbo-Croatian masculine given name which means "free" (''sloboda'' / meaning "freedom, liberty") used among other South Slavs as well. It was coined by Serbian liberal politician Vladimir Jovanović ...
in the
2000 Yugoslav presidential election held on 24 September 2000 winning 50.24% of the vote and defeating
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...
who contested the election results.
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
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
, DSS had very little influence with just two cabinet-level ministerial posts, that of Deputy Prime Minister (held by
Aleksandar Pravdić
Aleksandar Pravdić (born in Čačak in 1958) is a former Deputy Prime Minister in the Government of Serbia (2001-2004). He graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics and until 2000 was employed as an economist in the Health ...
) and Minister of Health (held by
Obren Joksimović
Obren Joksimović (; 15 May 1952 – 13 March 2021) was a Serbian surgeon and politician who served as Ministry of Health (Serbia), Minister of Health in the Government of Serbia from 25 January 2001 to 22 October 2001.
Biography
Joksimović w ...
) 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.
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 People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to:
* People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
*People's Democratic Party (Belize)
*People's Democratic Party (Bhutan)
*People's Democratic Party (Chile)
* People's Democratic Party (Dom ...
(NDS), one to the
Serbian Liberal Party
The Serbian Liberal Party ( sr-cyr, Српска либерална странка, Srpska liberalna stranka; abbr. СЛС or SLS) was a classical-liberal, nationalist and monarchist political party in Serbia.
Background
The Democratic Party (D ...
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
United Serbia ( sr, Јединствена Србија, Jedinstvena Srbija, JS) is a national-conservative political party in Serbia.
History
It was founded on 15 February 2004, as a split from the far-right Party of Serbian Unity with Dragan ...
.
The leader of the DSS since its foundation, Vojislav Koštunica, was the
Prime Minister of Serbia
The prime minister of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, премијерка Србије, premijerka Srbije; masculine: премијер/premijer), officially the president of the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, председница Влад ...
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
The Serbian Renewal Movement ( sr-cyrl, Српски покрет обнове, Srpski pokret obnove, SPO) is a liberal and monarchist political party in Serbia.
History
The Serbian Renewal Movement party was founded in 1990 through the merge ...
and
G17 Plus
G17 Plus was a centre-right political party in Serbia. Founded as a non-governmental organization dealing with economic issues, in 2002 it transformed into a political party that became part of several ruling coalition governments in Serbia thro ...
. The
second coalition government between July 2007 and July 2008 in coalition with the Democratic Party and G17 Plus.
2008–present
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
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...
in February 2012.
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''. In early May, the ''National-Democratic Alternative'' was transformed into a pre-electoral coalition. On 24 May, the 14th party assembly was held in which Jovanović was re-elected as the president of the party, while
Dejan Šulkić
Dejan Šulkić ( sr-cyr, Дејан Шулкић; born 22 October 1972) is a Serbian politician. He was the mayor of Velika Plana from 2004 to 2015 and is currently serving his second term as a member of the National Assembly of Serbia. Šulkić ...
, Zoran Sandić, and Predrag Marsenić were elected as vice presidents. DSS changed its name to New Democratic Party of Serbia following the 15th assembly on 29 May 2022.
Political positions
Initially aligned on the
centre-right
Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...
on the political spectrum, it has shifted to the
right-wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...
in the early 2010s. A
national-conservative
National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, ...
party,
it is strongly opposed to the
accession of Serbia to the European Union
The accession of Serbia to the European Union (EU) has been on the current agenda for the future enlargement of the EU since 2012, when it became a candidate for accession. Serbia officially applied for European Union membership on 22 Decembe ...
.
It has been also described as
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
,
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
,
populist
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...
, and
Christian democratic.
It was historically supportive of Western integration and
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
, and was a member of the
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...
until 2012.
Together with the
People's Party,
Serbian Party Oathkeepers
The Serbian Party Oathkeepers ( sr-cyrl, Српска странка Заветници, Srpska stranka Zavetnici, SSZ) is a far-right political party in Serbia.
The party's previous name was Serbian Movement Oathkeepers ( sr-cyrl, Српск ...
, and
Dveri
The Serbian Movement "Dveri" ( sr-Cyr, Српски покрет Двери, Srpski pokret Dveri), commonly just known as Dveri (), is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Serbia. It its currently led by Boško Obradović, ...
, it signed a joint declaration for the "reintegration of
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
into the
constitutional
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princip ...
and legal order of Serbia" in October 2022.
List of presidents of the Democratic Party of Serbia
Acting leaders
Ref:
Electoral performance
Parliamentary elections
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# there is no automatic collision detection,
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Define $dx = 25 # shift text to right side of bar
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from:26/07/1992 till:25/10/2000 shift:($dx,$dy) color:Opposition
from:25/10/2000 till:22/10/2001 shift:($dx,$dy) color:Government
from:22/10/2001 till:18/03/2004 shift:($dx,$dy) color:Opposition
from:18/03/2004 till:07/07/2008 shift:($dx,$dy) color:Government
from:07/07/2008 till:end shift:($dx,$dy) color:Opposition
Presidential elections
Positions held
Major positions held by Democratic Party of Serbia members:
Notable members
*
Vojislav Koštunica
Vojislav Koštunica ( sr-cyrl, Војислав Коштуница, ; born 24 March 1944) is a Serbian former politician who served as the last president of FR Yugoslavia from 2000 to 2003 and as the prime minister of Serbia from 2004 to 2008.
...
*
Aleksandar Popović
*
Slobodan Samardžić
*
Aleksandar Pravdić
Aleksandar Pravdić (born in Čačak in 1958) is a former Deputy Prime Minister in the Government of Serbia (2001-2004). He graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics and until 2000 was employed as an economist in the Health ...
*
Dragan Jočić
*
Miloš Aligrudić
*
Radomir Naumov
*
Dragan Maršićanin
Dragan Maršićanin ( sr-Cyrl, Драган Маршићанин; born 26 January 1950) is a Serbian economist and politician. He was the ambassador of Serbia to Switzerland from 2004 to 2009. He served as the Minister of Economy in 2004, only ...
*
Predrag Bubalo
*
Vladeta Janković
*
Draško Petrović
Draško Petrović, Master's degree in Europe, MSc ( sr-cyr, Драшко Петровић; born 1965 in Belgrade) is a Serbian politician and businessman.
He graduated from the University of Belgrade's University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, Law S ...
*
Mirko Petrović
*
Đurđe Ninković
Djurdje Ninković (born 1942) is a lawyer, legal commentator and political activist who was a founding member of the Democratic Party (DS) in Serbia who joined the Founding Committee of the Democratic Party in December 1989. From late December th ...
*
Milan Parivodić
*
Vladan Batić
*
Bora Đorđević
Borisav "Bora" Đorđević ( sr-cyr, Борисав, Бора Ђорђевић; born 1 November 1952), also known as Bora Čorba ( sr-cyr, Бора Чорба), is a Serbian singer, songwriter, and poet. He is best known as the frontman of the ...
*
Dušan Prelević
Dušan Prelević "Prele" (Serbian Cyrillic: Душан Прелевић Преле; November 11, 1948 – July 28, 2007) was a Serbian singer, journalist, and writer.
During his career Prelević released three solo albums and a large number of ...
*
Nenad Popović
See also
*
Politics of Serbia
The Politics of Serbia are defined by a unitary parliamentary framework that is defined by the Constitution of Serbia in which the president, currently Aleksandar Vučić, is the head of state while the prime minister, currently Ana Brnabić, ...
*
List of political parties in Serbia
This article lists political parties in Serbia, including former parties that existed in the Kingdom of Serbia between the early 1860s and 1918.
The Kingdom of Serbia operated under the multi-party system until 1918 when it became Kingdom of Serb ...
References
External links
Democratic Party of Serbia Official website.
Democratic Party of Serbia YouthDemocratic Party of Serbia BelgradeDemocratic Party of Serbia Economic Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Democratic Party Of Serbia
Conservative parties in Serbia
Eastern Orthodox political parties
Eurosceptic parties in Serbia
International Democrat Union member parties
Political parties established in 1992
1992 establishments in Serbia
National conservative parties
Democratic Party (Serbia) breakaway groups
Social conservative parties
Right-wing parties in Europe
Nationalist parties in Serbia
Christian democratic parties in Europe