The Serb Democratic Party ( sr, Српска демократска странка/Srpska demokratska stranka or СДС/SDS) is a

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

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 ideological or p ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

. Its current acting president is Milan Miličević. In the parliamentary elections of October 2006, the SDS lost its status as the leading party in

Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located ...

and the main Serb party in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the

Alliance of Independent Social Democrats The Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (; abbr. СНСД or SNSD) is a Serb political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Founded in 1996, it is the governing party in Republika Srpska, with its leader, Milorad Dodik, serving as the current ...

(SNSD), led by the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of Republika Srpska

Milorad Dodik Milorad Dodik ( sr-cyrl, Милорад Додик, ; born 12 March 1959) is a Bosnian Serb politician serving as the 8th president of Republika Srpska since November 2022. Previously, he served as the 7th Serb member of the Presidency of Bo ...

. Despite making minor gains in the 2010 and 2014 elections, by 2018 the party had fallen to below 20% of the parliament, the lowest seat standing in its history. The party is under sanctions from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

for "failing to arrest and turn over war crimes suspects to an international tribunal." The sanctions prohibit any transfer of funds and material from the United States to the SDS and vice versa. The party is on the list of ''Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons'' by the

Office of Foreign Assets Control The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the U.S. Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy o ...

U.S. agency.

History

Establishment

Radovan Karadžić founded the Serb Democratic Party in 1990. The party aimed at unifying the

Bosnian Serb The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sr-Cyrl, Срби у Босни и Херцеговини, Srbi u Bosni i Hercegovini) are one of the three constitutive nations (state-forming nations) of the country, predominantly residing in the politi ...

community, as Jovan Rašković's Serb Democratic Party did with the Serbs in Croatia, and staying part of Yugoslavia (as the "Third Yugoslavia" with

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

) in the event of secession by those two republics from the federation.

1991

Throughout September 1991, the SDS began to establish various " Serb Autonomous Regions" throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the Bosnian parliament voted on sovereignty on 15 October 1991, a separate Serb Assembly was founded on 24 October 1991 in

Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city of Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is also the ''de facto'' capital of this entity. ...

, in order to exclusively represent the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The following month, Bosnian Serbs held a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

which resulted in an overwhelming vote in favor of staying in a federal state with Serbia and Montenegro, as part of Yugoslavia. In December 1991, a top-secret document entitled ‘For the organization and activity of organs of the Serbs people in Bosnia-Herzegovina in extraordinary circumstances’ was drawn up by the SDS leadership. This was a centralized program for the takeover of each municipality in the country, through the creation of shadow governments and para-governmental structures through various "crisis headquarters", and by preparing loyal Serbs for the takeover in co-ordination with the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA).

Ideology

Historically, the party had a strong

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 ...

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...

and

Islamophobic Islamophobia is the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism. The scope and precise definition of the term ''Islamophobia'' ...

ideology. Recently, the party switched from

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

and adopted more

moderate conservative Moderate conservatism is a moderate version of conservatism that is less demanding than classical conservatism and has several subtypes such as liberal conservatism. The term is often used in countries where the political camp is divided into ' ...

views, with some of those views even going in favor of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole, and not just the Republic of Srpska. Perhaps one of the greatest promoters of that approach is Dragan Mektić, one of the party's high-ranking officials.

List of presidents

Electoral results

Parliamentary elections

ImageSize = width:900 height:70 PlotArea = width:800 height:50 left:20 bottom:20 DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1992 till:01/01/2022 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1992 Legend = columns:3 left:40 top:75 columnwidth:90 # there is no automatic collision detection, # so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap Colors= id:Government value:green legend:Government id:Opposition value:red legend:Opposition id:Support value:yellow legend:Support Define $dx = 25 # shift text to right side of bar Define $dy = -1 # adjust height PlotData= bar:Govern. color:blue width:25 mark:(line,black) align:center fontsize:10 from:22/04/1992 till:05/05/1997 shift:($dx,$dy) color:Government from:05/05/1997 till:16/01/2001 shift:($dx,$dy) color:Opposition from:16/01/2001 till:28/02/2006 shift:($dx,$dy) color:Government from:28/02/2006 till:end shift:($dx,$dy) color: Opposition

Presidential elections

Positions held

Major positions held by Serb Democratic Party members:

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serbian Democratic Party (Bosnia And Herzegovina) Conservative parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbian irredentism Nationalist parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina Political parties in Republika Srpska Separatism in Bosnia and Herzegovina Serb political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina Serb nationalist parties National conservative parties 1990 establishments in Bosnia and Herzegovina Political parties established in 1990