Serbia Centre

Serbia Centre ( sr-cyrl, Србија центар, Srbija centar, abbr. SRCE) is a political party in Serbia. It is led by Zdravko Ponoš, former chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces from 2006 to 2008.

Ponoš was the presidential candidate of the United for the Victory of Serbia alliance in the 2022 election. Shortly after the election, SRCE was formed as a split from the People's Party. It became a registered political party in July 2023, after which it became a member of the Serbia Against Violence coalition that contested the parliamentary, Vojvodina provincial, and Belgrade City Assembly elections in December 2023. In those elections, SRCE gained representation in all bodies. SRCE is opposed to the ruling Serbian Progressive Party and supports the accession of Serbia to the European Union.

History

Formation

Zdravko Ponoš, a member and former vice-president of the People's Party (Narodna), was a candidate in the 2022 Serbian presidential election, on behalf of the United for the Victory of Serbia coalition. He placed second, winning 18% of the popular vote, behind incumbent president Aleksandar Vučić. Following the election, he left Narodna and announced that he would work on creating a movement or a political party. Serbia Centre (SRCE) was founded on 26 June 2022, while it was officially presented to the public on 6 July 2022.

2022–present

Since its inception, it has cooperated with the Democratic Party (DS), Together, and Green–Left Front opposition parties. Its offices in Vranje were attacked by an unknown group of assailants in February 2023. SRCE has supported the mass protests that began after the Belgrade school shooting and Mladenovac and Smederevo shootings in May 2023. In August 2023, SRCE, DS, and Together signed a cooperation agreement. SRCE became part of the Serbia Against Violence (SPN) coalition in October 2023, a coalition of political parties organising the 2023 protests. SPN announced that it would contest the parliamentary, Vojvodina provincial, and Belgrade City Assembly elections, all scheduled for 17 December 2023. In the parliamentary election, SPN won 65 seats, 9 of which went to SRCE.

Ideology and platform

SRCE is a centrist political party, a description which it also uses to describe itself. According to Dušan Spasojević, a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, during the 2022 electoral campaign Ponoš had "quite unclear positions about key issues, but a shift to the left has been noticeable" since the formation of SRCE.

It is opposed to the ruling Serbian Progressive Party and it has expressed support for cooperation between opposition parties. Following the Belgrade school shooting and Mladenovac and Smederevo shootings, SRCE has expressed its support for the formation of a transitional government.

SRCE supports the accession of Serbia to the European Union. In regards to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it supports "stepping away from what Russia is doing". According to Marko Vujić, an assistant at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Belgrade, SRCE is a "climate responsible" organisation that has an elaborate strategy to fight climate change.

SRCE supports declaring milk as a strategic product for Serbia and adopting measures that would revive the milk production sector. It has criticised the government's approach towards workers at Zastava Arms in January 2023.

Organisation

SRCE is led by Ponoš, its founder, who was re-elected at its assembly in October 2023. Duško Lopandić, Mihailo Brkić, Slobodan Cvejić, Tatjana Marković Topalović, and Tijana Perić Diligenski serve as vice-presidents of SRCE. Its headquarters is at Stojana Protića 48, Belgrade.

Ponoš announced in March 2023 that SRCE would begin collecting signatures to register as a political party. In June 2023, SRCE announced that they had collected 10,000 signatures that are needed for the registration. On 12 July 2023, it was registered as political party.

List of presidents

Electoral performance

Parliamentary elections

Provincial elections

Belgrade City Assembly elections

References

External links

Official website
{{Serbian political parties

2022 establishments in Serbia
Centrist parties in Serbia
People's Party (Serbia, 2017) breakway groups
Political organizations based in Serbia
Political parties established in 2022
Pro-European political parties in Serbia