Liberal Democratic Party (Serbia, 1989)

The Liberal Democratic Party (Serbian: Либерално демократска странка, romanized: Liberalno demokratska stranka, abbr. LDS), known as the Liberal Party (Serbian: Либерална странка, romanized: Liberalna stranka, abbr. LS) until 1997, was a political party in Serbia. Founded in 1989, its first president was Aleksandar Stefanović. Stefanović left LS to join Vojislav Šešelj's Serbian Chetnik Movement in June 1990. He was then succeeded Predrag Vuletić, who ran as a perennial candidate in elections up till 1997.

For the party led by Čedomir Jovanović, see Liberal Democratic Party (Serbia).

Liberal Democratic Party
Либерално демократска странка
Liberalno demokratska stranka
Former nameLiberal Party
AbbreviationLS (until 1997)
LDS (after 1997)
President
  • Aleksandar Stefanović
  • (1989–1990)
  • Predrag Vuletić
  • (1990–2010)
Founded14 December 1989 (1989-12-14)
Registered4 January 1994 (1994-01-04)
Dissolved2010
HeadquartersPantićeva 70, Valjevo
Ideology
Political positionSyncretic
Colours  Orange
Website

LDS did not take part in elections after 1997 but it remained active until 2010, when the party was de-registered from the registry of political parties due to the implementation of a new law.

History

The Liberal Party (LS) was founded on 14 December 1989 in Valjevo by former members of the Socialist Alliance of Working People of Serbia.[1][2][3]: 58  Its founders included Aleksandar Stefanović, who was its first president, Predrag Vuletić, Slaven Batoćanin, and Milan Ulm.[3]: 58 [4] LS declared itself to be the successor of the 19th century Liberal Party.[4]

Stefanović defected to Vojislav Šešelj's Serbian Chetnik Movement once it was formed in June 1990.[3]: 58  Stefanović was then succeeded by Vuletić.[3]: 58  LS was one of the organisers of the opposition protest in June 1990 in Belgrade.[5] Vuletić was a presidential candidate in the 1990 general election, winning 5,019 votes in total.[6] LS later took part in the 1992,[7]: 122  1993,[7]: 125  and 1997 parliamentary elections.[7]: 129  LS was a minor member of the Democratic Movement of Serbia coalition.[4]

LS changed its name to Liberal Democratic Party (LDS) on 15 February 1997.[4][8][9] Slobodan Ikonić of NIN stated in September 1997 that Vuletić did not publish his electoral programme for the September 1997 presidential election.[10] LDS then took part in the Alliance for Change and Democratic Opposition of Serbia coalitions.[4] In 1999, they organised anti-government protests in Valjevo.[11]

Аfter Čedomir Jovanović formed the Liberal Democratic Faction inside the Democratic Party in 2004, Vuletić objected to the registration of Jovanović's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) due to its similar name in English.[12] Vuletić offered Jovanović to take over the LDS leadership only if he would support the restoration of Serbian monarchy in return; Vuletić told the Glas javnosti newspaper in 2005 that Jovanović did not respond to his proposal.[12] Vuletić submitted a request to the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government in November 2005 to reject LDP from being registered; LDP was eventually registered.[13][14]

After the new system was adopted in 2010, LDS was deregistered as a political party and ceased to exist. In 2011, Vuletić joined the New Serbia.[15]

Ideology and platform

LS is listed in the Europa World Year Book as an economically liberal party.[1] Author Robert Thomas described LS as a hybrid party, stating that Stefanović wrote a book that praised Draža Mihailović, the leader of Chetniks during World War II, but also portrayed LS as "a party of the European left".[3]: 58  LDS was anti-communist and it supported the rehabilitation of Draža Mihailović.[4][15] It also supported the restoration of Serbian monarchy.[4] According to its programme, LDS supported regionalism, privatisation, environmentalism, lustration of former members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, and accession of Serbia to the European Union and NATO.[16]

Organisation

LDS only had two presidents during its existence, this being Stefanović and Vuletić.[3]: 58  According to its website from 2004, Vesna Prodanova and Slobodan Jončić served as vice-presidents of the party.[17] By 2009, LDS had chapters in 50 municipalities.[18] It was registered as a political party on 4 January 1994.[4]

Its headquarters was at Pantićeva 70 in Valjevo and Njegoševa 1 in Belgrade.[1][16] In 2000, its headquarters in Belgrade was moved to Mutapova 12.[4][19] By November 2005, however, Glas javnosti reported that their headquarters in Belgrade were closed.[12] Its headquarters in Valjevo have been occupied by LDP.

International cooperation

LDS had ambitions to join the Liberal International.[12]

List of presidents
# President Birth–Death Term start Term end
1 Aleksandar Stefanović1953–14 December 198918 June 1990
2 Predrag Vuletić1952–18 June 19902010

Electoral performance

Parliamentary elections
National Assembly of Serbia
Year Leader Popular vote  % of popular vote # # of seats Seat change Coalition Status Ref.
1990 Predrag Vuletić 7,325 0.15% Increase 22nd
0 / 250
 Steady 0 – Extra-parliamentary [20]
1992 632 0.01% Decrease 46th
0 / 250
 Steady 0 – Extra-parliamentary [21]
1993 275 0.01% Increase 42nd
0 / 250
 Steady 0 – Extra-parliamentary [22]
1997 503 0.01% Decrease 44th
0 / 250
 Steady 0 – Extra-parliamentary [23]

Presidential elections
President of Serbia
Year Candidate 1st round popular vote  % of popular vote 2nd round popular vote  % of popular vote Ref.
1990 Predrag Vuletić 21st 5,109 0.10% — — — [20]
1992 Did not participate –
Sep 1997 Predrag Vuletić 11th 11,463 0.29% — — — [24]
Dec 1997 7th 21,353 0.57% — — — [25]

References
  1. Maher, Joanne (2004). The Europa World Year Book 2004: Kazakhstan–Zimbabwe. Vol. 2 (45 ed.). London: Taylor & Francis. p. 3716. ISBN 9781857432558.
  2. Stefanović, Nenad Lj. (1990). "Vreme". No. 167–175. p. 27. ISSN 0353-8028. OCLC 24236314.
  3. Thomas, Robert (1998). Serbia Under Milošević: Politics in the 1990s (2 ed.). London: C. Hurst & Co. ISBN 9781850653677. OCLC 1280730017.
  4. "Istorijat Liberalno-demokratske stranke" [History of the Liberal Democratic Party]. Liberal Democratic Party. July 2003. Archived from the original on 7 January 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  5. "Prvi miting opozicije u Beogradu" [First gathering of the opposition in Belgrade]. Beogradski kalendar (in Serbian). 12 June 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  6. "Predsednički izbori 1990. godine" [1990 presidential elections]. Vreme (in Serbian). 1 March 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  7. Mihailović, Srećko (2007). Oko izbora 15: Parlamentarni izbori u Republici Srbiji 21. januara 2007 [Oko izbora 15: Parliamentary elections in the Republic of Serbia on 21 January 2007] (in Serbian). Belgrade: CeSID. ISBN 9788683491438. OCLC 706852021.
  8. Cani, B. (6 December 1997). "Srbija bira predsednika, drugi put ove godine" [Serbia will elect a president, for the second time this year]. Naša borba (in Serbian). Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  9. Mihailović, Srećko (2008). Oko izbora 16: Predsednički izbori 20. januara i 3. februara 2008. godine [Oko izbora 16: Presidential elections on 20 January and 3 February 2008] (in Serbian). Belgrade: CeSID. p. 98. ISBN 9788683491469. OCLC 823319307.
  10. Ikonić, Slobodan (12 September 1997). "Predsednički kandidati: Šta ko nudi" [Presidential candidates: Who offers what]. NIN (in Serbian). Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  11. "Nastavljeni protesti u Valjevu i Kragujevcu" [Protests are continuing in Valjevo and Kragujevac]. B92 (in Serbian). 9 February 1999. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  12. "Vuletić: Nudio sam Čedi stranku" [Vuletić: I offered my party to Čeda]. Glas javnosti (in Serbian). 3 November 2005. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  13. "Dopis Liberalno-demokratske stranke Ministarstvu za državnu upravu Srbije" [Letter from the Liberal Democratic Party to the Ministry of State Administration of Serbia]. RTV Marš Valjevo (in Serbian). 3 November 2005. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  14. "Osnovan LDP" [LDP has been formed]. B92 (in Serbian). 11 May 2005. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  15. "Lider Liberalne stranke Predrag Vuletić postao član NS" [Leader of the Liberal Party, Predrag Vuletić, became a member of NS]. Blic (in Serbian). 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  16. "Programski ciljevi LDS" [LDS programme goals]. Liberal Democratic Party (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 8 July 2007. Retrieved 2 September 2003.
  17. "Rukovodstvo LDS-a" [LDS leadership]. Liberal Democratic Party (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 22 October 2004. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  18. "Odbori" [Boards]. Liberal Democratic Party (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 2 August 2009. Retrieved 2 September 2003.
  19. "Kontakt" [Contact]. Liberal Democratic Party (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 2 August 2009. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  20. "Konačni rezultati izbora za predsednika republike i narodne poslanike" [Final results of the elections for the president of the republic and deputies] (PDF) (in Serbian). Belgrade: Republički zavod za statistiku. January 1991. p. 3–6. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  21. "Konačni rezultati prevremenih izbora za narodne poslanike Narodne skupštine Republike Srbije" [Final results of early elections for deputies of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia] (PDF) (in Serbian). Belgrade. February 1993. p. 12. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 January 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  22. "Konačni rezultati prevremenih izbora za narodne poslanike Narodne skupštine Republike Srbije" [Final results of early elections for deputies of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia] (PDF) (in Serbian). Belgrade: Republički zavod za statistiku. January 1994. p. 13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  23. "Konačni rezultati izbora za narodne poslanike Narodne skupštine Republike Srbije" [Final results of the elections for deputies of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia] (PDF) (in Serbian). Belgrade: Republički zavod za statistiku. November 1997. p. 13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 October 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  24. "Konačni rezultati izbora za predsednika Republike Srbije" [Final results of the election for the President of the Republic of Serbia] (PDF) (in Serbian). Belgrade: Republički zavod za statistiku. February 1998. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  25. "Konačni rezultati izbora za predsednika Republike Srbije" [Final results of the election for the President of the Republic of Serbia] (PDF) (in Serbian). Belgrade: Republički zavod za statistiku. February 1998. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
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