The Liberal Democratic Party ( sr-cyrl, Либерално демократска партија, Liberalno demokratska partija, LDP) is a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

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 ...

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 ...

. It is led by

Čedomir Jovanović Čedomir "Čeda" Jovanović ( sr-cyr, Чедомир "Чеда" Јовановић, ; born 13 April 1971) is a Serbian politician and businessman. During the presidency of Slobodan Milošević in Serbia and Montenegro, Yugoslavia, Jovanović beca ...

History

The Liberal Democratic Party was founded on 5 November 2005 by former members 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 ...

, led by

, who were expelled in a party

purge In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another organization, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertak ...

in 2004. Jovanović had become critical of the new direction of the Democratic Party and its newly elected president,

Boris Tadić Boris Tadić ( sr-cyr, Борис Тадић, ; born 15 January 1958) is a Serbian politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2004 to 2012. Born in Sarajevo, he graduated from the University of Belgrade with a degree in psychology ...

. The LDP gained its first seat in parliament after Đorđe Đukić defected from the Democratic Party. Members of the foundation board were:

Nenad Prokić Nenad Prokić ( Serbian: Ненад Прокић) is Serbian playwright, theatre director and Founder of the Liberal Democratic Party (''Liberalno demokratska partija'') and professor of 20th Century Drama at University of Art in Belgrade (''Uni ...

, Nikola Samardžić,

Branislav Lečić Branislav Lečić ( sr-Cyrl, Бранислав Лечић; born 25 August 1955) is a Serbian actor, director, academic, writer, politician. Known for his versatile portrayals of emotionally vulnerable characters with strong senses of moral justic ...

and Đorđe Đukić. in 2007 the

Civic Alliance of Serbia The Civic Alliance of Serbia (; abbr. ГСС or GSS) was a liberal political party in Serbia. History Known widely by its three-letter acronym in Serbian, GSS was founded and registered in 1992. In the 1992 election, the party was represented ...

merged into the LDP. The LDP has a long-standing relationship with the Social Democratic Union and

League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina The League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina ( sr-cyrl, Лига социјалдемократа Војводине, Liga socijaldemokrata Vojvodine, LSV) is an autonomist political party in Serbia. Its current leader since 19 November 2022 is Bo ...

Ideology

LDP is a

party, and it is supportive of

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

and

multiculturalism The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...

. It has been also described as progressive and

social liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

. The LDP is one of the few political parties in Serbia to actively support Serbia's membership into

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and the

independence of Kosovo The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, which proclaimed the Republic of Kosovo to be a state independent from Serbia, was adopted at a meeting held on 17 February 2008 by 109 out of the 120 members of the Assembly of Kosovo, including the P ...

. The LDP is also highly supportive of

LGBT rights in Serbia Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Serbia face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in Serbia, and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientatio ...

. Regarding the economy, it is

classical-liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econom ...

, market-orientated, and supports

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

, although it is also in favor of

social welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet Basic needs, basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refe ...

. Additionally, it economic beliefs been described as

neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

, and conservative-liberal. Its political positions have been described as

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the l ...

, although its social policies are positioned on the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

, while it is economically orientated towards the right.

Presidents of the Liberal Democratic Party

Electoral performance

The LDP's first electoral performance was during the

2007 Serbian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 21 January 2007 to elect members of the National Assembly. The first session of the new National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia was held on 14 February 2007. The elections enabled the coalition of ...

, the LDP ran in a coalition together with the

, the Social Democratic Union and the

which collectively received 5.31% of the popular vote. The Civic Alliance would later merge into the LDP the same year. The next election followed a year later, with the LDP receiving only 5.24% of the popular vote, its worst performance to date. The Liberal Democratic Party competed in the

2012 Serbian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 6 May 2012 to elect members of the National Assembly, and were held simultaneously with provincial, local, and presidential elections. Background The 2008 parliamentary elections resulted in the f ...

as part of the ''

U-Turn A U-turn in driving refers to performing a 180° rotation to reverse the direction of travel. It is called a "U-turn" because the maneuver looks like the letter U. In some areas, the maneuver is illegal, while in others, it is treated as a m ...

'' coalition. The coalition received 6.53% of the popular vote. In the

2014 Serbian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 16 March 2014, with nineteen electoral lists competing for 250 members of the National Assembly. The election was called early, after tensions in the coalition led by the ruling Serbian Progressive P ...

s, LDP participated in the coalition with the Social Democratic Union and the

Bosniak Democratic Union of Sandžak The Justice and Reconciliation Party ( bs, Stranka pravde i pomirenja; sr, Странка правде и помирења; abbr. СПП or SPP), formerly known as the Bosniak Democratic Union of Sandžak ( bs, Bošnjačka demokratska zajednica ...

. However, the coalition did not win any seats in the National Assembly as it only received 3.36% of the popular vote. In the

2016 Serbian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 24 April 2016. Initially, the election were originally due to be held by March 2018, but on 17 January 2016 Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić called for a snap election claiming Serbia "needs four m ...

s, LDP participated in the coalition with the Social Democratic Party and the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina. The coalition received 5.02% of the popular vote and gained 13 seats in the National Assembly with LDP receiving 4 seats. In the 2020 Serbian parliamentary elections, LDP led a coalition called "Coalition for Peace" along with the Vlach National Party and other small

Bosniak The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

, and Montenegrin political organizations. However, the coalition had the worst result in LDP's history and it failed to pass the 3% electoral threshold.

Parliamentary elections

Presidential elections

References

External links

{{Authority control 2005 establishments in Serbia Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party member parties Centrist parties in Serbia Liberal parties in Serbia Political parties established in 2005 Pro-European political parties in Serbia Social liberal parties Democratic Party (Serbia) breakaway groups Classical liberal parties Progressive parties Conservative liberal parties Secularism in Serbia Multiculturalism in Europe