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Democratic Party (Serbia)The Democratic Party (Serbian: Demokratska Stranka) is a political party in Serbia. It used to be part of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia, the coalition that deposed Slobodan Miloević. After the 2003 elections, it became the third largest party in the National Assembly of Serbia, with 34 of 250 seats. It also has 13 seats of 126 in the Parliament of Serbia and Montenegro.It ran in an alliance with the Civic Alliance of Serbia which it accorded 5 seats according to a pre-election deal, Democratic Center was also accorded 5 seats and the Social-Democrat Union was accorded one seat. The party is not a part of the minority government (under Prime Minister Vojislav Kotunica), which took office in March 2004 after a dispute over whether the new government should accept support of Miloević's Socialist Party of Serbia or not. The political orientation of the party is centrist, more or less liberal, but it is affiliated to the Socialist International. After assassination of Zoran Djindjic, Boris Tadic took over as head of the party. In July 2004, he became the President of Serbia. Policies The Democratic Party's program states that: - They support parliamentary democracy.
- Public administration and public services should be professional and depoliticized. Public service needs to be effective and respectful of its users.
- Government institutions should be cheap to maintain.
- The government should be checked by independent judicature and independent media.
- They support decentralization of government, both territorially and fuctionally. Powers should be delegated to self-governing bodies whenever possible. Vojvodina should be truly autonomous.
- Acts of government should be transparent and monitored by the public.
- Participation of the people is essential, but governmental institutions need to be accessible.
- They support European integration.
- Government needs to ensure conditions in which businesses can operate freely.
- They support small and medium businesses, family owned businesses and independent farmers.
- There should be no discrimination based on sex, physical appearance, faith, beliefs or location.
- They support middle class.
- Government needs to invest in education, as well as transportation, energy, and telecommunications infrastructure.
- They support social solidarity.
- Government should maintain welfare programs.
- They encourage creation of unions.
History Predecessor Party The precursor of the Democratic Party was formed in the early 20th century, after a group of primeraly young members seceded from the People's Radical Party (Narodna radikalna stranka) and formed the Independent Radical Party (Samostalna radikalna stranka). After the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, they merged with various other parties from the kingdom creating the Democratic Party in 1919. The elected president of the party was Ljubomir Davidović, also a president of the Assembly and a mayor of Belgrade. After his death in 1940, Milan Grol took over the presidency. The Democratic Party won the plurality of votes on the first elections held in 1920, and until 1929 they participated in creation of the government, either independently or in a coalition. In 1929 King Alexander abolished the constitution and created a personal dictatorship, changing the name of the country to Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Democratic Party remained in opposition until World War 2. Following Yugoslavian occupation by Germany in 1941, most of the party members fled to England. The ones who remained fought either along Chetniks or Partisans. After the war most members returned to Yugoslavia, but the Democratic Party called for a boycott of communist-organized elections in 1945. After the elections the Communist Party banned the Democratic Party and its newspapers Democracy (Demokratija). Until 1948, members were persecuted and many, including Milan Grol, arrested and sentenced to long terms in prison. One of the sentenced individuals was Borislav Pekic. In 1948 the party ceases its operation. New Party On December 11, 1989, a group of 13 intellectuals held a press conference in Belgrade where they announced that the Democratic Party is being formed and invited everyone to join the first opposition party in Serbia. The founders were: -
- Kosta Čavoki, Milovan Danojlić, Zoran Đinđić, Gojko Đogo, Vladimir Gligorov, Slobodan Inić, Marko Janković, Vojislav Kotunica, Dragoljub Mićunović, Borislav Pekić, Miodrag Periić, Radoslav Stojanović and Duan Vukajlović
The founding assembly was held on February 3, 1990, in Dom Omladine in Belgrade. The elected party president was Dragoljub Mićunović and the executive board was presided by Zoran Đinđić. Members participated in the first anti-government protests. In 1990 elections, the party was on ballot in 176 of 250 electoral districts, and won 7 assembly seats. Only several days prior to the elections, a group of 10 members, led by Nikola Miloević, left the party and formed the Serbian Liberal Party. Recent events Democratic Party was one of the founders and most numerous parties of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), and its member until the breakup of the coalition. DOS participated in Yugoslavian direct presidential elections in September 2000. Its candidate, Vojislav Kostunica, won the majority of votes. The election committee delayed proclamation of results and called for the second round, which ignited street protests in October 2000. The protests led to official recognition of Kostunica's victory. In December 2000, elections for Serbian parliament were held and DOS won 64.7% of the votes, getting 176 of 250 seats. Zoran Djindjic, the president of Democratic Party at the time, was elected Prime Minister. Relationships within DOS became strained, especially between Democratic Party and Kostunica's Serbian Democratic Party. Eventually, Serbian Democratic Party left the coalition and the government, while criticizing both the coalition and Democratic Party specifically. One of the criticisms was lack of fight against organized crime. To combat this criticism Zoran Djindjic promised year 2003 to be fight against organized crime. Laws were introduced to establish framework. Zoran Djindjic, the president of Democratic Party and the Prime Minister of Serbia was assasinated in March 2003. The assassination destabilized the government. Immediately after assassination state of emergence was declared by interim president Natasa Micic. The government mounted operation Sablja (Sword). This police action was aimed at finding the assassins and was seen as a blow to organized crime. At the end of the operation most of suspects for assassination were arrested. The main suspect, Milorad Ulemek is currently on trial. New prime minister Zoran Zivkovic, also from Democratic Party, attempted to continue reforms in a fashion of his predecessor, but government was given no confidence vote at the end of the year 2003. New elections were scheduled for the end of 2003. Democratic party won 34 seats in the parliament. Democratic party did not enter the newly formed government led by Serbian democratic party. Boris Tadic was elected new president of Democratic party. He was nominated for the Serbian presidential elections in June 2004, and won with 53.7% votes in the second round, while Democratic party was still opposition in the parliament. Cedomir Jovanovic, vice-prime minister in previous government, was ejected from the party for his intention to make independent "Liberal-democrat" faction within DS. He criticized what he saw as Tadics lenient and tolerant stance toward government which he saw as too conservative and unwilling to cooperate fully with ICTY. Jovanovic did not form a new party or joined another one since, although his political views almost coincide to the Civic Alliance of Serbia, a former ally of the Democratic Party. In 2005 the Democratic Centre joined the Democratic Party. See also External links
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