Democratic Party of Serbia

Democratic Party of Serbia
Democratic Party of Serbia
Демократска странка Србије
Demokratska stranka Srbije
Leader Vojislav Koštunica
Founded 1992
Split from Democratic Party
Headquarters Pariska 13, Belgrade
Ideology Conservatism,[1]
National conservatism[1]
Christian democracy[1]
Soft euroscepticism[citation needed]
Political position Centre-right
International affiliation International Democrat Union,
Alliance of Democrats
European affiliation European People's Party
Official colours Blue
National Assembly
20 / 250
Website
www.dss.rs
Politics of Serbia
Political parties
Elections

The Democratic Party of Serbia (Serbian: Демократска странка Србије, Demokratska stranka Srbije) is a political party in Serbia.

Contents

History

Foundation

The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) was founded when a faction of the Democratic Party (DS) that supported its involvement in the Democratic Movement of Serbia (DEPOS) split from the party and formed their own in 1992.

Soon after the March 9, 1991 protest, differences had arisen within DS ranks in over the "national question" in the former Yugoslavia. The DSS wing which would eventually split, believed that the national interests of Serbians were betrayed by Slobodan Milošević's regime, and approached the Serbian position in Yugoslavia as neither as question of political democracy nor economic equality but as larger question of Serbian national survival.

The DS wing however did not believe a genuine national issue in former Yugoslavia existed. The extent of their involvement in such discussion went as far as noting that the Serbian nation as the most populous one within Yugoslavia has a special responsibility for the country's survival.[citation needed]

Some prominent members who left DS include: Vojislav Koštunica, Vladeta Janković, Đurđe Ninković, Draško Petrović, Mirko Petrović and Vladan Batić. The DSS founding assembly was held on July 26, 1992 and elected Vojislav Koštunica as party chairman. First regular party assembly took place on December 5, 1992, which is when the founding manifesto was adopted.

1992-1999

The first ever elections DSS took part in were the December 1992 parliamentary ones. As part of DEPOS, 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 Milošević regime and the approach to national issue that led to division in DS, appeared in DEPOS too. DSS decided to leave the coalition in mid-1993.

Next parliamentary elections in Serbia were called prematurely for December 19, 1993. This time DSS ran independently and received seven seats. This was a period of the party's political stagnation as 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.

Since 2000

The DSS was a founding member of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) who's 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 triggering the Overthrow of Slobodan Milošević who contested the election results.

In the December 2000 Serbian parliamentary election, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia won 64.7% of the popular vote translating into 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).[citation needed]

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 caucus size in parliament to 52.

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 Democratic Party and G17 Plus.

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.

However, since 2010 it plans to stand alone in the next parliamentary elections in 2012.

Policies

List of policies[3][Third-party source needed]

  • Constitutionality
  • Internal development
  • Economic development
  • Military neutrality
  • Demographic renewal
  • Support to Republika Srpska
  • Preservation of cultural identity
  • Enhancement of education and science
  • National unity and solidarity

Prominent members

See also

References

External links


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