The Independent Democratic Serb Party ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Самостална демократска српска странка, Samostalna demokratska srpska stranka, SDSS) is a

social-democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote s ...

political party in Croatia representing the interests of the Croatian Serbs. It holds, progressive,

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Politi ...

stances and is generally considered a centre-left party.

History

It was formed in 1997 and led by Vojislav Stanimirović. In the

2003 Croatian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections to elect all 151 members of the Croatian Parliament were held on 23 November 2003. They were the fifth parliamentary elections to take place since the first multi-party elections in 1990. Voter turnout was 61.7%. The result ...

, it beat its main rival, the Serb People's Party (SNS), taking all three seats reserved for Serb representatives in the Croatian parliament. After the elections, the Independent Democratic Serb Party made an agreement with the winning

Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union ( hr, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, lit=Croatian Democratic Community, HDZ) is the major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Cro ...

led by

Ivo Sanader Ivo Sanader (born 8 June 1953) is a former Croatian politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009. He is to date the second longest-serving prime minister since independence, holding the office for over five and a half ye ...

in which they agreed on fulfilling several Independent Democratic Serb Party demands such as refugee return, strengthening of national equality, judicial reform and cooperation with neighbouring countries. In the

2007 Croatian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 25 November 2007 and for overseas voters on 24 and 25 November.Cabinet of Ivo Sanader II, their member

Slobodan Uzelac Slobodan Uzelac ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Узелац; born 9 August 1947) is a Croatian Serb politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia for Regional Development, Reconstruction and Return in the second cabinet of Prime Mini ...

received the position of vice-president of government. In the

2011 Croatian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on Sunday, 4 December 2011 to elect 151 members to the Croatian Parliament. They were the sixth parliamentary election in Croatia since independence. Elections were held in 10 electoral districts insid ...

, they again won all three seats for Serb minority lists in the Parliament. In the 2015 and 2016 Croatian parliamentary elections, the SDSS also held all of 3 Serb national minority seats in the Croatian Parliament, continuing to support the HDZ-led government of Croatia. The party participated in 2019 European Parliament election in Croatia, winning 2.66% of votes. After the 2020 parliamentary election, SDSS member Boris Milošević received the position of Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia, in charge of social affairs and human and minority rights, within the Second Cabinet of

Andrej Plenković Andrej Plenković ( ; born 8 April 1970) is a Croatian politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Croatia since 19 October 2016. He was previously one of eleven Croatian members of the European Parliament, serving from Croatia's ...

, representing national minorities in Croatia.

Electoral performances

Croatian Parliament

European Parliament

For the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candi ...

, the Independent Democratic Serb Party joined the centre-left SDP-led Kukuriku coalition. The coalition eventually won 4 out of 11 Croatian seats in

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...

, with SDSS received no seat. In 2019, the Independent Democratic Serb Party ran independently for the first time in a European Parliament election. Although there were speculations that the SDSS might leave the ruling coalition with HDZ, its leader

Milorad Pupovac Milorad Pupovac (; born 5 November 1955) is a Croatian politician and linguist. He is a member of the Sabor, the former president of the Serb National Council, and the president of the Independent Democratic Serb Party. He was also an observer a ...

confirmed that the SDSS will remain a part it, following a meeting with Prime Minister

. Campaign was marked by SDSS jumbo posters with inscription "Do you know what it is like to be a Serb in Croatia?" in which a word Serb was written in

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...

().

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

professor Dejan Jović was second on the list, just behind party leader Milorad Pupovac. As it was expected by campaign leaders, the jumbo posters were target of widespread

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

vandalism and destruction which underlined the issue of ethnic intolerance and discrimination.

Party presidents

Party platform

Independent Democratic Serb Party 2019 European Parliament Election

The SDSS defines itself as a democratic party of liberal and social-democratic orientation but also as a Serb national party. Political goals include: #Refugee return, especially of Serbs, which its represent in parliament; finishing renewal of war damaged areas #The right to buy earlier state-owned flats, under earlier legislation (before peaceful reintegration of Croatian Podunavlje, when deadline for buying state-owned flats ended) #State protection and securing of existing rights of national minorities, especially

Serbs in Croatia The Serbs of Croatia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Срби у Хрватској, Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", хрватски Срби, hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in Cro ...

#Cultural and educational autonomy of Serbs in Croatia, through use of

Serbian language Serbian (, ) is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina and co-official in Montenegro and ...

and writings, use of Serbian

national symbols A national symbol is a symbol of any entity considering and manifesting itself to the world as a national community: the sovereign states but also nations and countries in a state of colonial or other dependence, federal integration, or even an ...

, education in Serbian, foundation of Serb organizations in education and culture, foundation of Serbian information media and the maintaining of Serbian traditions and customs #Professionalization of the armed forces #Regionalism and decentralization #Croatian integration into the EU and developing relations with

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

References

{{authority control 1997 establishments in Croatia Political parties established in 1997 Pro-European political parties in Croatia Serb political parties in Croatia Social democratic parties in Croatia Vukovar