Our Party ( Bosnian, Croatian, and

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

: ''Naša stranka''/Наша странка, abbreviated NS) is a

social-liberal Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited ...

and

multi-ethnic The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mult ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, founded in 2008. Its current leader is

Edin Forto Edin Forto (born 16 August 1972) is a Bosnian politician serving as Ministry of Communication and Traffic (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Minister of Communication and Traffic since January 2023. He previously served twice as List of heads of the Saraj ...

. The party's founders are the Bosnian directors

Danis Tanović Danis Tanović (born 20 February 1969) is a Bosnian film director and screenwriter. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for the Golden Bear and the Palme d'Or. Ta ...

and

Dino Mustafić Dino Mustafić (born 6 July 1969) is a Bosnian film and theater director and current managing director of the Sarajevo National Theatre. Biography Mustafić was born in Sarajevo, at the time part of socialist Yugoslavia, the son of renowned Yugo ...

. The party aims to break the dominance of

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

parties in the Bosnian political system. It is a member of the

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE; , ADLE) was a transnational alliance between two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and the European Democratic Party. ALDE had political ...

Platform

Our Party is a

and multi-ethnic party that seeks greater inclusion of citizens in the decision-making process in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are also pro- EU and pro-

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. Our Party also believes that collective rights should not have priority over individual rights and are against ethnically-based decision-making processes. They believe that the rights of the constituent peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina should be clearly formulated and enumerated, and the party's belief is that the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

should be the one protecting vital ethnic interests and not the national House of Peoples, which according to Our Party should be abolished. The party does not agree with the concept of privatization at all costs, but rather believes that it should be done strategically and that public companies should be kept public if they are financially and economically viable. Our Party states in their 2015 official party economic programme that they consider the cost of labour in Bosnia and Herzegovina to be too high. One of the party documents was called "Third Way", reflecting the party's strong support of

neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

ideas, such as support for the free market, free trade, deregulation, privatisation, reduction of taxes for private companies, public-private partnerships, etc. Our Party believes that

small and medium-sized enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organiza ...

are essential for Bosnia and Herzegovina's economic development. According to the party's platform, taxes should be lowered in order to attract domestic and foreign investments. The party is also for progressive taxation and differentiated

VAT A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...

rates in order to make basic necessities cheaper. Our Party is also for the decrease of the enormous administration which according to them would significantly improve the country's economic situation. The party believes, in contrast to the ethnic parties of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that the economy is the main integration mechanism.

History

Foundation, 2008

Our Party was founded on 5 April 2008 on the initiative of a group of citizens and public figures led by prominent film directors

and

. None of them became president of the party, which is in contrast to most other leader-oriented parties that emerged in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the war. Instead, they became vice presidents, together with Maja Marjanović and Boris Divković, while Bojan Bajić was elected party president and Fadil Šero secretary-general. The unifying element for the founders of Our Party was the dissatisfaction with the political practices in

at the time. The first elections Our Party contested were the 2008 municipal elections, claiming their aim was to build the party infrastructure from below by building local organisations and dealing with real-life issues. They won 24 seats in different municipal assemblies and their candidate Hajder Ermin became the mayor of the municipality of

Bosanski Petrovac Bosanski Petrovac ( sr-cyrl, Босански Петровац) is a town and municipality located in the Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013 census, the municipality has a p ...

2010–2012

Following the 2010 general election, and relatively poor results – two seats in the Sarajevo Cantonal Assembly and one seat in the Federal House of Peoples, Dennis Gratz was elected as the party's new president. One of the main problems the party had in the period 2008–2010 was its large local infrastructure which was financially unfeasible. After the new leadership took over, the party started massive reconstruction. They decided to pull from municipalities where they lacked much support and concentrate on those municipalities where they did have such as

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

municipalities, as well as Gračanica,

Vareš Vareš ( cyrl, Вареш) is a town and municipality located in Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is famous for the local mi ...

Zenica Zenica ( ; ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and an administrative and economic center of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Zenica-Doboj Canton. It is located in the Bosna (river), Bosna river valley, about north of Sarajevo. The ...

Tuzla Tuzla (, , ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, third-largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the administrative center of Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 110,979 inha ...

and Doboj-Istok.

2014–2018

The decision to concentrate on municipalities where they did have electoral success in the past proved to be successful, as Our Party doubled their number of votes and increased its seat number by one in the Sarajevo Cantonal Assembly. They also managed to win one seat in the Federal House of Representatives, and earned two seats in the Federal House of Peoples. After the 2014 electoral success, the party decided to once again expand their local organisations across Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 16 May 2015,

Predrag Kojović Predrag Kojović (; born 2 July 1965) is a member of the national House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, House of Representatives since 2018. From 2014 to 2018, Kojović was a member of the House of Representatives of the Federation ...

was elected president of the party. On 4 June 2016, Our Party became a member of the

. The 2016 municipal elections were held on 2 October. The party managed to significantly increase its share of votes in Sarajevo, becoming the second largest political party and the largest left leaning party in the city. On 21 April 2018, Our Party announced the candidacy of Boriša Falatar in the Bosnian general election, running for

Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

member and representing the

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

. In the general election, held on 7 October 2018, he failed to get elected. However, the visibility of the Falatar campaign helped Our Party to quadruple its number of votes, and quadruple its number of elected parliamentary representatives compared to previous elections. As a result, the party formed a coalition government in the

Sarajevo Canton The Sarajevo Canton, officially the Canton of Sarajevo (; ; ), is one of the ten cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its cantonal seat is the city of Sarajevo, also the capital city of Bosnia and Herzeg ...

on 26 December 2018, appointing a

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

and two ministers.

2020–2024

On the eve of the 2020 municipal elections, Our Party entered into a four-party liberal coalition alongside the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

People and Justice People and Justice (, abbreviated NiP) is a centre-right political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The party was founded on 12 March 2018. History People and Justice (NiP) was founded on 12 March 2018, after Elmedin Konaković resigned from al ...

and the Independent Bosnian-Herzegovinian List, colloquially known as the '' Four''. In the elections, the alliance made significant results in Sarajevo, winning in the municipalities of Centar,

Novo Sarajevo Novo Sarajevo (Ново Сарајево, ; lit. 'New Sarajevo') is a municipality of the city of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Neighborhoods *'' Grbavica I'' *'' Grbavica II'' *''Pofalići I'' *''Pofalići II'' *''Velešići'' *''Gornji Vele ...

, Stari Grad and

Ilidža Ilidža ( sr-cyrl, Илиџа, ) is a spa town and a municipality located in Sarajevo Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has a total population of 66,730 with 63,528 in Ilidža itself, and i ...

, as well as other major cities in the country. Our Party vice-president Srđan Mandić was elected municipal mayor of Centar. In the

2022 general election The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2022. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2022 United Nations Security Council election * 2022 national electoral calendar * 2022 loca ...

, the party won two seats in the national

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

and six seats in the Federal one. Following the election, a coalition led by the

Alliance of Independent Social Democrats The Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (; abbr. СНСД or SNSD) is a Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serb Serbian nationalism, nationalist political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Founded in 1996, it is the governing party in Republika ...

, the

Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union (, , HDZ) is a major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. Since 2016, it has been the ruling political party in Croatia under the incumbent Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. It is one of the ...

and the Social Democratic Party, including Our Party, reached an agreement on the formation of a new

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. Party president

was appointed as the new Minister of Communication and Traffic within the newly formed government. Our Party repeated its electoral success in the 2024 municipal elections, with Srđan Mandić getting re-elected as municipal mayor of Sarajevo's municipality Centar.

List of presidents

Elections

Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Presidency elections

Cantonal elections

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{Bosnian political parties 2008 establishments in Bosnia and Herzegovina Political parties established in 2008 Liberal parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina Pro-European political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina Secularism in Bosnia and Herzegovina Social liberal parties