Democratic Party of Serbia

The Democratic Party of Serbia (Serbian: Демократска странка Србије, romanized: Demokratska stranka Srbije, pronounced [demǒkratskaː strânka sr̂bije], DSS) is a national-conservative political party in Serbia.

Not to be confused with the Democratic Party (Serbia).

Democratic Party of Serbia
Демократска странка Србије
Demokratska stranka Srbije
AbbreviationDSS
PresidentMiloš Jovanović
Vice Presidents
FounderVojislav Koštunica
Founded26 July 1992 (1992-07-26)
Split fromDemocratic Party
HeadquartersBelgrade
IdeologyNational conservatism
Political positionRight-wing
National affiliationNational Democratic Alternative
Colours  Blumine
National Assembly
8 / 250
Assembly of Vojvodina
5 / 120
City Assembly of Belgrade
4 / 110
Website
dss.rs

It was formed as a conservative split from the Democratic Party (DS), and has played a key role in the opposition during the 1990s. It was a part of the "Together" coalition and was later a founding member of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS). Its first leader, Vojislav Koštunica, was elected president of Yugoslavia in 2000, a role which he served until 2003. DSS left the DOS government in 2001, and served in the opposition until the 2003 parliamentary election, after which it managed to form a government with other right-wing parties. Koštunica was appointed prime minister, and after 2008, it went to the opposition again after being unable to form a government. It saw its decline in the 2010s, and it failed to pass the threshold in the 2014 parliamentary election, which led to Koštunica resigning from the position as party leader. He was replaced by Sanda Rašković Ivić, and in 2016, DSS managed to enter the National Assembly again, this time in a coalition with Dveri. Rašković Ivić was ousted after the parliamentary election, and was replaced by Miloš Jovanović as president of the party.

A former member of the European People's Party, it maintained a centre-right and moderate conservative image until the early 2010s, when the party shifted to a more right-wing and eurosceptic position. It leads the National Democratic Alternative (NADA) coalition, which is set to participate in the 2022 general election.

History

1992–2000

The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) was founded in 1992 by a breakaway nationalist faction of the Democratic Party (DS), which advocated involvement in the Democratic Movement of Serbia (DEPOS).[1]

Founding members of the party were Vojislav Koštunica, Vladeta Janković, Đurđe Ninković, Draško Petrović, Mirko Petrović and Vladan Batić. The founding assembly was held on 26 July 1992 and elected Vojislav Koštunica as its first president. The first party assembly was held on 5 December 1992 and adopted the party's first manifesto.

Vojislav Koštunica, founder and the first president of the party

The DSS first competed in the December 1992 parliamentary elections. As part of DEPOS, the DSS received 18 seats in the National Assembly of Serbia - which grew to 20 after non-party-aligned members of DEPOS decided to leave the Parliament. Soon, similar differences of opinion over ways in which to fight the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia and the DSS's belief in Serbian nationalism led to a division in DEPOS too. The DSS left the coalition in mid-1993.[1]

Next parliamentary elections in Serbia were called prematurely for 19 December 1993. This time DSS ran independently and received seven seats. This was a period of the party's political stagnation as most nationalist votes went to the Serbian Radical Party. It did not have enough seats to significantly influence matters in Serbia and was left without representation in the Federal Assembly.

In 1996, opposition Zajedno (Together) coalition was created. DSS entered the 1996 federal parliamentary elections as part of the coalition and won four seats in the Federal Assembly.[1]

2000–2008

The DSS was a founding member of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) whose presidential candidate and leader of the DSS, Vojislav Koštunica defeated Slobodan Milosevic in the 2000 Yugoslav presidential election held on 24 September 2000 winning 50.24% of the vote and defeating Slobodan Milošević who contested the election results.[1]

In the December 2000 Serbian parliamentary election, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia won 64.7% of the popular vote, securing 176 seats in the National Assembly. The DSS was allocated 45 seats. In the ensuing Democratic Opposition of Serbia coalition government, DSS had very little influence with just two cabinet-level ministerial posts, that of Deputy Prime Minister (held by Aleksandar Pravdić) and Minister of Health (held by Obren Joksimović) as well as very few second tier posts of Deputy Minister. The DSS was unhappy with the direction of the DOS Government policy and split from the coalition in late 2001.[2]

In the 2003 parliamentary election, the DSS won 17.7% of the popular vote, translating into 53 seats in the parliament. Of these 53 seats, three went to the People's Democratic Party (NDS), one to the Serbian Liberal Party and one to the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS).

In 2004 NDS left the coalition with DSS, leaving it with 50 seats in the National Assembly. However, in 2005 both the NDS and the SDS merged into the DSS, bringing its size to 52 seats in the National Assembly.

The DSS won 47 seats in coalition with New Serbia in the 2007 parliamentary election, receiving 667,615 votes or 16.55% of the total popular vote. DSS itself received 33 seats in the parliament, and formed a group together with New Serbia, the Serbian Democratic Renewal Movement and United Serbia.

The leader of the DSS since its foundation, Vojislav Koštunica, was the Prime Minister of Serbia between March 2004 and July 2008 heading up two coalition governments. The first coalition government between March 2004 and July 2007 in coalition with Serbian Renewal Movement and G17 Plus. The second coalition government between July 2007 and July 2008 in coalition with the Democratic Party and G17 Plus.

2008–present

In the early 2008 parliamentary election held in May 2008 following the self-proclaimed declaration of independence by the Serbian province of Kosovo, the DSS won 30 seats in the National Assembly in coalition with New Serbia. It won 480,987 votes representing 11.62% of the electorate. In coalition with New Serbia 2008–10, it formed the second largest opposition block in the Serbian parliament.

Since 2008 the DSS has positioned itself as a staunch defender of the premise that Kosovo should remain within Serbia (in some shape or form) and that further negotiations must take place to determine a workable political outcome regarding Kosovo and Serbia. Because of this approach, the DSS is against Serbia joining the EU if in return it is bound to acknowledge the legitimacy of the self-proclaimed independent Kosovo.

The party has become increasingly nationalist and eurosceptic since the independence of Kosovo. In 2012, Vojislav Koštunica stated that the EU is destroying Serbia and that Serbia should abstain on EU membership. The party subsequently left the European People's Party in February 2012.[3]

The party competed independently in the 2012 parliamentary elections in May 2012 and received around 7% of the popular vote (273,532 votes) translating into 21 Members of Parliament.

In 2014, founder and first president of DSS Vojislav Koštunica left the party over its abandonment of the idea of political neutrality. Subsequently, Slobodan Samardžić, Dragan Jočić, Vladeta Janković and Dejan Mihajlov also announced their departure in response to differences of opinion over the course of DSS.

On 26 January 2021, DSS and the Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia (POKS) signed an agreement on joint action and agreed on a joint political-program platform called the National-Democratic Alternative.[4] In early May, the National-Democratic Alternative was transformed into a pre-electoral coalition.[5] On 24 May, the 14th party assembly was held in which Jovanović was re-elected as the president of the party, while Dejan Šulkić, Zoran Sandić, and Predrag Marsenić were elected as vice presidents.[6]

Ideology and position

Initially aligned on the centre-right on the political spectrum,[7][8] it has shifted to the right-wing in the early 2010s.[9][10][11][12] A national-conservative party,[13][14][15] it is strongly opposed to the accession of Serbia to the European Union.[16][17] It has been also described as conservative,[18][19] nationalist,[20][21] and Christian democratic.[22] It was historically supportive of Western integration and European Union, and was a member of the European People's Party until 2012.[23][24]

List of presidents of the Democratic Party of Serbia
# President Born–died Term start Term end
1 Vojislav Koštunica1944–26 July 199219 March 2014
2 Sanda Rašković Ivić1956–12 October 20142 August 2016
3 Miloš Jovanović1976–21 December 2016Incumbent

Acting leaders

Ref:[25]

Electoral results

Parliamentary elections
National Assembly of Serbia
Election Leader Votes Seats Coalitions Status
Popular vote  % of vote # # of seats Seat change
1992 Vojislav Koštunica 797,831 16.89% 3rd
18 / 250
 18 DEPOS opposition
1993 218.056 5.07% 5th
7 / 250
 11 opposition
1997 Election boycott
0 / 250
 7 no seats
2000 2,402,387 64.09% 1st
45 / 250
 45 DOS government 2000–01
opposition 2001–04
2003 678,031 17.73% 2nd
53 / 250
 8 government
2007 667,615 16.55% 3rd
33 / 250
 20 With NS-JS government
2008 480,987 11.62% 3rd
21 / 250
 12 With NS opposition
2012 273,532 6.99% 4th
21 / 250
 0 opposition
2014 152,436 4.24% 5th
0 / 250
 21 no seats
2016 Sanda Rašković Ivić 190,530 5.04% 6th
6 / 250
 6 With Dveri opposition
2020 Miloš Jovanović 72,085 2.24% 6th
0 / 250
 6 Metla 2020 no seats
2022 204,442 5.37% 4th
8 / 250
 8 NADA TBA

Years in government (1992– )

Presidential elections
President of Serbia
Election year # Candidate 1st round votes  % 2nd round votes  % Notes
1992 2nd Milan Panić 1,516,693 32.11 — — Independent candidate; support
1997
Election boycott
Sep–Oct 2002 1st Vojislav Koštunica 1,123,420 30.89 1,974,450 68.4 Election declared invalid due to low turnout
Dec 2002 1st Vojislav Koštunica 1,699,098 57.66 — — Election declared invalid due to low turnout
2003
Election boycott
2004 4th Dragan Maršićanin 414,971 13.31 — — Government Coalition (Democratic Party of Serbia, G17 Plus, Serbian Renewal Movement, New Serbia)
2008 3rd Velimir Ilić 305,828 7.43 — — Supported by: Democratic Party of Serbia, United Serbia, Serbian Renewal Movement and List for Sandžak
2012 4th Vojislav Koštunica 290,861 7.44% — —
2017 10th Aleksandar Popović 38,167 1.04% — —
2022 3rd Miloš Jovanović 226,118 6.10% — — NADA coalition
President of FR Yugoslavia
Election year Candidate # 1st round popular vote  % of popular vote # 2nd round popular vote  % of popular vote
2000 Vojislav Koštunica 1st 2,470,304 50.24% N/A — —

Positions held

Major positions held by Democratic Party of Serbia members:

President of FR YugoslaviaYears
Vojislav Koštunica 2000–2003
Prime Minister of SerbiaYears
Vojislav Koštunica 2004–2008
President of the Assembly of Serbia and MontenegroYears
Zoran Šami 2004–2006
President of the National Assembly of SerbiaYears
Dragan Maršićanin
2001
2004

Notable members

See also

References
  1. "Izbori 2012 - Stranke" (in Serbian). B92. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  2. "Serbia vote: Parties and players". BBC News. 24 December 2003. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  3. "DSS napustio Evropsku narodnu partiju" (in Serbian). Radio-televizija Srbije. 25 February 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  4. "DSS i POKS potpisali Sporazum o zajedničkom delovanju". www.danas.rs (in Serbian). Danas. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  5. "DSS i POKS potpisali koalicioni sporazum". rs.n1info.com (in Serbian). N1. 6 May 2021.
  6. "Članovi DSS izabrali rukovodstvo stranke, Jovanović ostaje predsednik". rs.n1info.com (in Serbian). N1. 24 May 2021.
  7. Nezi, Spyridoula; Sotiropoulos, Dimitri; Toka, Panayiota (August 2009). "Explaining the Attitudes of Parliamentarians towards European Integration in Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia: Party Affiliation, 'Left-Right' Self-placement or Country Origin?". Europe-Asia Studies. Glasgow: Routledge. p. 1006. ISSN 0966-8136.
  8. Ilonszki, Gabriella (2013). Perceptions of the European Union in New Member States : a Comparative Perspective. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-317-96578-7. OCLC 863822466.
  9. Chun, Kwang-Ho (2011). Kosovo: A New European Nation-State?. International Area Studies Review. p. 91.
  10. Ramet, Sabrina (2010). Serbia since July 2008: at the Doorstep of the EU. p. 20.
  11. Three freedoms under the magnifying glass: Review of violations of freedom of association, assembly and expression in Serbia from March to July 2019. Three Freedoms Platform. 2019. p. 4.
  12. Stojarová, Věra; Emerson, Peter, eds. (30 October 2009). "Political parties in Serbia" (PDF). Party politics in the Western Balkans. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415550994. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  13. Constitutional politics in Central and Eastern Europe : from post-socialist transition to the reform of political systems. Anna Fruhstorfer, Michael Hein. Wiesbaden. 2016. p. 278. ISBN 978-3-658-13762-5. OCLC 960701696.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  14. Stojic, Marko (2018). Party responses to the EU in the western Balkans : transformation, opposition or defiance?. Cham, Switzerland. p. 233. ISBN 978-3-319-59563-4. OCLC 1003200383.
  15. Orlović, Slaviša; Antonić, Slobodan; Vukomanović, Dijana; Stojiljković, Zoran; Vujačić, Ilija; Đurković, Miša; Mihailović, Srećko; Gligorov, Vladimir; Komšić, Jovan; Pajvančić, Marijana; Pantić, Dragomir (2007). Ideologija i političke stranke u Srbiji [Ideology and Political Parties in Serbia] (PDF) (in Serbian). Belgrade: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Faculty of Political Sciences, Institute for Humanities. ISBN 978-86-83767-23-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 November 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2001.
  16. Čavoški, Aleksandra (December 2015). Idealism or realism in the process of EU enlargement: The case of Serbia. Birmingham: East European Quarterly. p. 279. ISSN 0012-8449.
  17. Antonić, Slobodan (2012). "Eurosceptism in Serbia" (PDF). Serbian Political Thought. Institute of Political Studies in Belgrade. 5 (1): 69. doi:10.22182/spt.512012.4.
  18. Drezgić, Rada (2010). Religion, Politics and Gender in the Context of Nation-State Formation: the case of Serbia. Belgrade: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. doi:10.1080/01436597.2010.502728.
  19. Serbia Country Report. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Transformation Index. 2010. p. 2.
  20. Gligorov, Vladimir (February 2007). Serbia: stability at risk. p. 2.
  21. Woehrel, Steven (May 2013). Serbia: Current Issues and U.S. Policy. Washington D.C.: Congressional Research Service. p. 1.
  22. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2020). "Serbia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  23. "Koštunica se nadao da će SR Jugoslavija ući u EU". danasrs (in Serbian). Danas. 22 November 2020.
  24. "DSS napustio Evropsku narodnu partiju". Radio Television of Serbia (in Serbian). 25 February 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  25. "Serbian ministries, etc". rulers.org. B. Schemmel. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
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