Green–Left Front

Green–Left Front ( sr-cyrl, Зелено–леви фронт, Zeleno–levi front, abbr. ZLF) is a green political party in Serbia. It is the successor of Do not let Belgrade drown association and four local citizens' groups. Radomir Lazović and Biljana Đorđević serve as the co-presidents of ZLF.

Formed in July 2023, and registered as a political party a month later, ZLF was one of the organisers of the 2023 Serbian protests. It later became part of the Serbia Against Violence coalition which contested the parliamentary, Vojvodina provincial, and Belgrade City Assembly elections in December 2023. A left-wing party, ZLF declares itself to be supportive of solidarity, social justice, and environmental protection. It is a member of the Progressive International and is a candidate to join the European Greens.

History

Formation

At the sixth congress of Do not let Belgrade drown (NDB) in June 2022, it was announced that NDB would transform itself into a political party that would be active on national level, as opposed to only being active in Belgrade. NDB also announced that several local organisations would take part in the foundation of the political party and that it would continue its actions within the We Must coalition. In early February 2023, it was announced that the political party would be named the Green–Left Front (ZLF) and that it would also utilise its slogan "we would not give up on Serbia". Radomir Lazović also announced that it would open local branches in Niš, Sombor, and Užice, while ZLF would also sign several cooperation agreements with local organisations in Serbia.

On 10 February 2023, NDB signed an agreement on joint participation with the Choice for our Municipality citizens' group. Four days later, it signed another agreement with the Critical Mass citizens' group. In late February 2023, it signed an agreement with the "Initiative for Požega", while in early June, it signed an agreement with the Local Front from Valjevo and the Initiative for Lajkovac.

ZLF held its founding assembly on 14 July, during which the party adopted its statute and programme. Lazović announced that the leadership election will be held in autumn. Biljana Đorđević has said that ZLF would take part in the upcoming local elections.

2023–present

After the Belgrade school shooting and Mladenovac and Smederevo shootings in May 2023, ZLF has taken part in the 2023 protests as one of its organisers. ZLF became part of the Serbia Against Violence (SPN) coalition in October 2023, a coalition of political parties organising the 2023 protests. The SPN coalition announced that it would take part in the parliamentary, Vojvodina provincial, and Belgrade City Assembly elections, all scheduled for 17 December 2023. Lazović was placed first on its electoral list for the parliamentary elections. In the parliamentary election, SPN won 65 seats, 9 of which went to ZLF.

Political positions

ZLF is a green and progressive party, while it declares itself to be supportive of solidarity, social justice, environmental protection, rights to public goods, and broad participation of citizens in decision-making. Lazović stated that it would be a left-wing political party, and that its ideology would be orientated towards principles of the "green left". He also noted that ZLF would be supportive of decentralisation, civic and human rights, and anti-fascism. At the sixth congress of NDB, it was announced that ZLF would be ideologically and programmatically similar to NDB itself. Political scientist Filip Balunović has described ZLF as a left-wing party.

ZLF has criticised the establishment of the cooperation between the Ministry of Health and the Mozzart Foundation, a gambling company. It has pledged to stop exploitation and the destruction of the environment. In September 2023, ZLF introduced a law to legalise same-sex civil unions to the National Assembly. ZLF opposed the erection of a monument and the establishment of a museum to Draža Mihailović, which were unveiled in October 2023.

Organisation

ZLF is led by two co-presidents, Lazović and Biljana Đorđević. Its headquarters is located at Patrijarha Gavrila 6/III, Belgrade. According to ZLF, it has 5,000 members as of February 2023, a thousand of whom live outside of Belgrade. Lazović had also announced that ZLF will form youth, women, LGBT+, and elderly party wings; in June 2023, the Green Youth of Serbia formally joined ZLF as its youth wing, while in October 2023, the Autonomous Women's Front was formed as its women's wing. Lazović is the parliamentary leader of ZLF in the National Assembly.

ZLF began collecting signatures to become a registered party on 18 May and on 19 June it was announced that they have collected 11,000 signatures. Regarding the finance costs for the registration of the party, Lazović said that NDB has mostly used membership donations but also public funds allocated for the functioning of the organisation. ZLF was registered on 10 August 2023.

International cooperation

From NDB, it has retained its candidate status to become a member of the European Greens. Jelena Jerinić, a ZLF member of the National Assembly, said that she expects ZLF to become a member of the European Greens at the next congress. ZLF representatives took part in the 37 European Greens congress in 2023. As the successor of NDB, it is also affiliated with the Progressive International.

List of presidents

Electoral performance

Parliamentary elections

Provincial elections

Belgrade City Assembly elections

References

Primary sources

In the text these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):

See also

* List of green political parties
*

External links

Official website

{{Green parties
2023 establishments in Serbia
Green political parties in Serbia
Left-wing parties in Serbia
Political parties established in 2023
Progressive International
Progressive parties