Independent Democratic Party of Serbia

The Independent Democratic Party of Serbia (Serbian: Samostalna Demokratska stranka Srbije (Samostalni DSS); Serbian Cyrillic: Самостална Демократска странка Србије (скраћено Самостални ДСС)) was a conservative political party in Serbia.

The Samostalni DSS was formed in 2015 via a split in the Democratic Party of Serbia (Demokratska stranka Srbije, DSS). Its leader was Andreja Mladenović, who was elected to the National Assembly of Serbia in the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election as a Samostalni DSS candidate on the electoral list of the governing Serbian Progressive Party.

History

The DSS won nine seats (out of 110) in the 2014 Belgrade City Assembly election, and Mladenović served as leader of the party's delegation to the Assembly of the City of Belgrade. The Serbian Progressive Party won an outright majority in this election, and, when the assembly met, new Progressive mayor Siniša Mali nominated Mladenović to become the city's deputy mayor. He was confirmed in this role by a vote of the assembly.[1]

In July 2015, DSS leader Sanda Rašković Ivić expelled Mladenović and six other members of the party's Belgrade assembly group on the grounds that they were attempting to turn the DSS into a satellite of the Progressive Party.[2] The expelled members described this decision as unjust and contrary to party policy and established the Samostalni DSS with Mladenović as their leader. The group initially identified as a fraction within the DSS and said they would work for the party's renewal.[3] The Samostalni DSS later became a distinct party, and Mladenović was formally chosen as its leader at a founding convention in October 2015.[4] Branches were established in several municipalities, and Samostalni DSS members served in some municipal assemblies.

Mladenović sought to establish an alliance between the Samostalni DSS and the Progressive Party in early 2016.[5][6] He was included in the tenth position on the Progressive Party's coalition electoral list for the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election and was elected when the list won a majority victory with 131 out of 250 mandates.[7] His term in this office was brief; he could not hold a dual mandate as both a member of the National Assembly and deputy mayor of Belgrade, and he resigned his assembly seat on 3 October 2016.[8][9] He was the Samostalni DSS's sole representative in the National Assembly during this time and appears to have been its only candidate on the Progressive list; his replacement in the assembly was Progressive Mladen Lukić.[10][11]

The Samostalni DSS appears to have become inactive in 2017. Mladenović was re-elected to the Belgrade assembly in the 2018 Belgrade City Assembly election with the endorsement of the Progressive Party.[12][13]

References
  1. Namanja Cabric, "Serbian capital elects new mayor Sinisa Mali," Xinhua News Agency, 24 April 2014.
  2. "Experts see expulsions from Serbian right-wing parties as power struggle," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 15 July 2015 (Source: Politika website, Belgrade, in Serbian 12 Jul 15).
  3. Dimitrije Bukvić, "Nova odbornička grupa u Skupštini grada – Samostalni DSS", Politika, 1 July 2015, accessed 28 July 2018.
  4. "Mladenović izabran za predsednika Samostalnog DSS", Novosti (Source: Tanjug), 8 October 2015, accessed 28 July 2018.
  5. "Paper views divisions among Serbian rightists despite shared views on EU, NATO," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 8 January 2016 (Source: Politika website, Belgrade, in Serbian 6 Jan 16).
  6. "Serbian pundits explain ruling parties' campaign against conservative party," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 8 March 2016 (Source: Politika website, Belgrade, in Serbian 5 Mar 16).
  7. Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (АЛЕКСАНДАР ВУЧИЋ - СРБИЈА ПОБЕЂУЈЕ) Archived 2018-04-27 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  8. "Mladenović posle pisanja 'Blica': Podneću ostavku na jednu od funkcija", Blic, 18 August 2016, accessed 27 July 2018.
  9. Current legislature, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 27 July 2018.
  10. "Lider Samostalnog DSS Andreja Mladenović na listi SNS", Blic (Source: Tanjug), 4 March 2016, accessed 28 July 2018.
  11. Serbia's 2011 electoral law stipulates that, in the event of the departure from the assembly of a member elected on a coalition list, the vacant mandate will fall to the next candidate on the list from the same party. If there are no further candidates on the list from the party in question, however, the accepted practice is for the mandate to be awarded to the next candidate on the list from any party. See Law on the Election of Members of the Parliament (2000, as amended 2011) (Article 92) made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 28 February 2017.
  12. Изборне листе (1. АЛЕКСАНДАР ВУЧИЋ – Зато што волимо Београд!), City of Belgrade (Election 2018), accessed 27 July 2018.
  13. Službeni list, City of Belgrade, 28 March 2018, p. 2.
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