Serb Democratic Party (Croatia)
|
Serb Democratic Party
Српска демократска Странка Srpska Demokratska Stranka |
|
|---|---|
| Leader | Milan Babić |
| Founder | Jovan Rašković |
| Founded | 17 February 1990 |
| Dissolved | 1995–1996 |
| Headquarters | Knin |
| Ideology |
Serbian nationalism National conservatism Separatism |
| Political position | Right-wing |
| European affiliation | None |
| International affiliation | None |
| Ethnic group | Serbs of Croatia |
The Serb Democratic Party (Serbian: Српска демократска Странка / Srpska Demokratska Stranka, СДС or SDS) was a political party in Croatia whose primary constituency were the Serbs of Croatia. It led the Republic of Serbian Krajina. It existed between 1990 and 1995.
The SDS was founded in the Socialist Republic of Croatia on February 17, 1990. It was organized by Jovan Rašković in 1990, with the wake of incoming democratic parliamentarism and rebirth of nationalism across Yugoslavia. The Croatian Democratic Union desired to gather the Croats, while SDS' aim were the Croatian Serbs. A sister party was founded in the neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina which took over the same lead, while the minor sister-parties in Serbia and Montenegro, where socialism was still strong, never became prominent.
SDS participated in the first democratic elections in Croatia in April and May 1990, winning 1.55% of the vote in the first, and 2% in the second round, giving them several seats in the Croatian Parliament where they were in the opposition. At the time, Franjo Tuđman considered the SDS as the primary representative of the Serbs in Croatia. They were the largest explicitly nationally inclined Serb party in Croatia, although their election success hardly matched the percentage of Serb population in Croatia, at the time 12.2% of the total population.
The self-professed main goal of SDS was to protect the Serb population, which it reckoned endangered as per the new Croatian Constitution that revoked the status of its Serbs from a constituent nation to a national minority. On July 6, 1990, Milan Babić convened a meeting of representatives of Serb-populated municipalities, where they rejected the constitutional changes which would preclude such municipal associations, introduce exclusively Croat symbols, and change the name of the language spoken in Croatia (from hrvatskosrpski Croato-Serbian to hrvatski or Croatian). SDS also countered HDZ's desire of an independent Croatia, wishing instead to remain a part of Yugoslavia.
...
Wikipedia