The Serbian Party Oathkeepers ( sr-cyrl, Српска странка Заветници, Srpska stranka Zavetnici, SSZ) is a
far-right 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 ...
.
The party's previous name was Serbian Movement Oathkeepers ( sr-cyrl, Српски сабор Заветници, Srpski sabor Zavetnici). The party defines itself 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 ...
and
Russophilic
Russophilia (literally love of Russia or Russians) is admiration and fondness of Russia (including the era of the Soviet Union and/or the Russian Empire), Russian history and Russian culture. The antonym is Russophobia. In the 19th Century ...
political party and it opposes membership to
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
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 ...
. It participated in the
2020 Serbian parliamentary election.
History
They participated in the
parliamentary election in 2014 under a coalition called "Patriotic Front" but the coalition only got 4,514 votes. They also participated in the
parliamentary election that took in 2016 in which they got 27,690 votes. In October 2022, two MPs left the party and the SSZ parliamentary group due to their criticism of Đurđević Stamenkovski.
Political positions
Serbian Party Oathkeepers is positioned on the
far-right on the political spectrum.
It is an
ultranationalist
Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its sp ...
party,
and it is staunchly
socially conservative
Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...
.
It has been described as
right-wing populist
Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establ ...
,
and it is also opposed to
illegal immigration
Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...
.
SSZ opposes the European Union and NATO, and it supports establishing closer ties with
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
.
Together with the
People's Party,
New Democratic Party of Serbia
The New Democratic Party of Serbia ( sr, Нова демократска странка Србије, Nova demokratska stranka Srbije, , NDSS or New DSS) is a national-conservative political party in Serbia.
Initially known and formed as Democ ...
, 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 and legal order of Serbia" in October 2022.
Electoral performance
Parliamentary elections
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Presidential elections
Belgrade City Assembly elections
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References
{{Serbian political parties
Conservative parties in Serbia
Eastern Orthodox political parties
Serb nationalist parties
Far-right parties in Europe
Far-right politics in Serbia
Nationalist parties in Serbia
Right-wing populism in Serbia
2012 establishments in Serbia
Eastern Orthodoxy and far-right politics
Right-wing populist parties
Anti-immigration politics in Europe
Political parties established in 2012
Social conservative parties
Russophilia