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The Serbian Progressive Party (, SNS) is a major populist, catch-all
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
in
Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
. It has been the ruling party since 2012. Miloš Vučević, the former prime minister of Serbia, has served as its president since 2023. Founded by Tomislav Nikolić and
Aleksandar Vučić Aleksandar Vučić, (born 5 March 1970) is a Serbian politician serving as President of Serbia since 2017. A founding member of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), he previously served as President of the SNS from 2012 to 2023, Deputy Prim ...
in 2008 as a split from the Serbian Radical Party, SNS served in opposition to the Democratic Party until 2012. SNS gained prominence and became the largest opposition party due to their
anti-corruption Anti-corruption (or anticorruption) comprises activities that oppose or inhibit corruption. Just as corruption takes many forms, anti-corruption efforts vary in scope and in strategy. A general distinction between preventive and reactive measur ...
platform and the protests in 2011 at which they demanded early elections. In 2012, Nikolić was elected president of Serbia and succeeded by Vučić as president of SNS. A coalition government led by SNS and
Socialist Party of Serbia The Socialist Party of Serbia (, abbr. SPS) is a populist political party in Serbia. Ivica Dačić has led SPS as its president since 2006. SPS was founded in 1990 as a merger of the League of Communists of Serbia and Socialist Alliance ...
(SPS) was also formed. Vučić became prime minister in
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
while SNS became the largest party in
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
and
Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...
in 2014 and 2016 respectively. SNS chose Vučić as their presidential candidate for the 2017 election, which he ultimately won. Mass protests were organised following his election, while Ana Brnabić, an
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
who later joined SNS, succeeded him as prime minister. SNS was later faced with protests from 2018 to 2020 and gained a
supermajority A supermajority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fun ...
of seats in the
National Assembly of Serbia The National Assembly ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Народна скупштина, Narodna skupština, ), fully the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia (), is the unicameral legislature of Serbia. The assembly is composed of 250 deputies who are ...
after the 2020 election which was boycotted by most opposition parties. The Serbian Patriotic Alliance merged into SNS in 2021 while
environmental protests The Environmental Justice Atlas documented 3,100 Environmental conflict, environmental conflicts worldwide as of April 2020 and emphasised that many more conflicts remained undocumented. Climate * Global Climate March * Global Day of Action ...
were also organised in 2021 and 2022. Vučić was re-elected as president in 2022, while SNS has continued to lead the government with SPS. A year later, Vučić was succeeded by Vučević as president of SNS. Political scientists have described SNS as a populist and catch-all party that has either a weak ideological profile or that is non-ideological. SNS supports Serbia's accession to the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
but its support is rather pragmatic. An economically
neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...
party, SNS has pushed for
austerity In economic policy, austerity is a set of Political economy, political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through Government spending, spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three prim ...
,
market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a mark ...
reforms,
privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...
, economic liberalisation, and has reformed wages, pensions, the
labour law Labour laws (also spelled as labor laws), labour code or employment laws are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship be ...
, introduced a lex specialis for Belgrade Waterfront, and reformed the Constitution in the part related to judiciary. Critics have assessed that after it came to power, Serbia has suffered from
democratic backsliding Democratic backsliding or autocratization is a process of regime change toward autocracy in which the exercise of political power becomes more arbitrary and repressive. The process typically restricts the space for public contest and politi ...
into
authoritarianism Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...
, as well as a decline in media freedom and
civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...
. As of 2024, SNS has at least 700,000 members, making it one of the largest political parties by membership in Europe.


History


Formation

The conflict between Tomislav Nikolić and
Vojislav Šešelj Vojislav Šešelj ( sr-Cyrl, Војислав Шешељ, ; born 11 October 1954) is a Serbian politician and convicted war criminal. He is the founder and president of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS). Between 1998 and 2000, he was a D ...
came to light after Nikolić's statement that the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), a
far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
political party, in the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
would support the
Stabilisation and Association Process In talks with countries that have expressed a wish to join the European Union, the EU typically concludes Association Agreements in exchange for commitments to political, economic, trade, or human rights reform in that country. In exchange, th ...
agreement for the accession of Serbia to the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
; Nikolić's statement was met with the resistance from Šešelj and his supporters. Nikolić, who was the head of the SRS
parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...
and a deputy president of the party since 1992, resigned from these posts on 7 September 2008. A day later, Nikolić formed the "Forward, Serbia" parliamentary group with 10 other MPs; five more MPs joined the parliamentary group in the following days.
Božidar Delić Božidar Delić ( sr-cyr, Божидар Делић, ; 20 February 1956 – 23 August 2022) was a Serbian general and politician who served as the vice president of the National Assembly (Serbia), National Assembly of Serbia from 2007 to 2012 a ...
and Jorgovanka Tabaković, high-ranking members of SRS, were one of the founding members of the parliamentary group. On 11 September, Nikolić announced that the "Forward, Serbia" parliamentary group would transform itself into a political party. It was speculated that
Aleksandar Vučić Aleksandar Vučić, (born 5 March 1970) is a Serbian politician serving as President of Serbia since 2017. A founding member of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), he previously served as President of the SNS from 2012 to 2023, Deputy Prim ...
, the general-secretary of SRS, would join the newly formed party; Nikolić later that day confirmed that he would join the party. A day later, SRS dismissed Nikolić and 17 other MPs from the party due to their opposition to Šešelj, while Vučić left SRS on 13 September. Nikolić stated that the newly formed party would be the party of the "modern right", whilst supporting strengthening relations with the European Union and Russia. On 24 September, Nikolić announced that the party would be called the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). SNS was registered as a political party on 10 October, while the founding convention was held on 21 October, at which a 20-man presidency was presented with Nikolić as the president and Vučić as deputy president. During the period of its formation, SNS gained 21 members in the National Assembly in total and members of local chapters of SRS switched their affiliation to SNS.


2008–2011

In November 2008, SNS called for snap parliamentary elections to be held by October 2009; this proposal was also later supported by Čedomir Jovanović, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Later that month, Vučić stated that SNS would act in opposition to the Democratic Party (DS). SNS opposed the DS initiative regarding constitutional changes in May 2009, which it described as "frivolous". A month later, SNS took part in local elections in
Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality in the city of Belgrade, Serbia. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown ...
, a Belgrade municipality known for being the stronghold of SRS; SNS won 34% of the popular vote, while SRS only won 10%. By July 2009, SNS established itself as the strongest opposition party in Serbia. SNS took part in local elections in
Voždovac Voždovac ( sr-Cyrl, Вождовац, ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality of the city of Belgrade. According to the 2022 census results, the municipality has a population of 174,864 inhabitants. The municipality is located in the south ...
and Kostolac in December 2009; in Voždovac, it won 37% of the popular vote and 26 seats in the Local Assembly, while in Kostolac it won 12% of the popular vote. Following the elections, SNS formed a local government with the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and New Serbia (NS) in Voždovac. CeSID, a non-governmental and electoral monitoring organisation, argued that the reason behind their electoral success was due to their
anti-corruption Anti-corruption (or anticorruption) comprises activities that oppose or inhibit corruption. Just as corruption takes many forms, anti-corruption efforts vary in scope and in strategy. A general distinction between preventive and reactive measur ...
promises. SNS announced in February 2010 that it collected over 500,000 signatures in favour of snap parliamentary elections; a month later, it claimed that the number grew to over a million signatures. After March 2010, SNS claimed that DS "was pulling the country into a deep crisis", and that in response it would organise anti-government protests in Belgrade. SNS declaratively supported the and condemned the victims of the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica, although it abstained from voting in the National Assembly in March 2010. SNS announced in December 2010, that it would organise protests in February 2011; New Serbia also said that it would join the protests. SNS handed over 304,580 signatures in favour of changing the constitution in January 2011. A series of anti-government protests that were organised by SNS began in February 2011. SNS demanded the government to call snap elections by December 2011. Initially the protests were held in Belgrade, although they spread throughout other locations in Serbia in March and April 2011. Nikolić went on a
hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...
in mid-April, after demanding president
Boris Tadić Boris Tadić, (born 15 January 1958) is a Serbian politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2004 to 2012. Born in Sarajevo, he graduated from the University of Belgrade with a degree in psychology. He later worked as a journalist ...
to call snap parliamentary elections.


2012–2013

Back in November 2010, SNS signed a cooperation agreement with New Serbia and two other parties, the
Movement of Socialists The Movement of Socialists (, abbr. PS) is a Left-wing nationalism, left-wing nationalist List of political parties in Serbia, political party in Serbia. It was founded in 2008 by Aleksandar Vulin, who served as the party's president until 2022 ...
(PS) and Strength of Serbia Movement (PSS). The parties later held a meeting in February 2011 and took part together in protests that were organised by SNS. The protests played a role in boosting the popularity of SNS, while opinion polls had shown that SNS received more support from voters than DS. Due to the anti-government protests, President Tadić called for general elections to be held in spring of 2012. In January 2012, it was confirmed that SNS would take part in a joint parliamentary list together with NS, PS, PSS, and eight minor parties and associations. The coalition was later named " Let's Get Serbia Moving". Nikolić was chosen as the presidential candidate of SNS, while Tabaković was chosen as the candidate for prime minister. During the campaign period, SNS criticised DS whilst campaigning on a pro-European platform, as well as promising to "correct the mistakes of DS".
Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani ( , ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and Disbarment, disbarred lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney ...
, the former
mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The Mayoralty in the United States, mayor's office administers all ...
, met with Nikolić and Vučić during the campaign period in Belgrade to consult for them. In the parliamentary election, the SNS-led coalition topped at the first place with 25% of the popular vote and won 73 seats in the National Assembly; SNS itself won 55 seats. Nikolić accused DS of vote fraud; during a press conference he showed a bag with about three thousand ballots that were allegedly thrown into a trash can. In the presidential election, Nikolić ended up in the second run-off against President Tadić; Nikolić ended up winning. SNS did not receive the highest number of votes in the provincial and Belgrade City Assembly elections, and was unable to form governments in Vojvodina and Belgrade. On 24 May 2012, Nikolić resigned as the president of SNS and was succeeded by Vučić, who was then later elected in September 2012; Tabaković was also elected deputy president. Nikolić held consultations with parliamentary parties after the election. After the consultations, Ivica Dačić, the leader of the
Socialist Party of Serbia The Socialist Party of Serbia (, abbr. SPS) is a populist political party in Serbia. Ivica Dačić has led SPS as its president since 2006. SPS was founded in 1990 as a merger of the League of Communists of Serbia and Socialist Alliance ...
(SPS), was given the mandate to form a government. Dačić reached a deal with SNS and the
United Regions of Serbia The United Regions of Serbia (; abbr. УРС, URS) was a Regionalism (politics), regionalist, Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative political party in Serbia. It was founded on 16 May 2010 as a political coalition, and became a unified poli ...
(URS) and on 27 July the new government was sworn in. Vučić became the first deputy prime minister. After becoming the first deputy prime minister, Vučić entered into a conflict with oligarch businessman Miroslav Mišković; he claimed that Mišković allegedly "gained illegal profit" in the 2000s. Mišković was arrested in December 2012 on suspicion of corruption, although in July 2013 he was released from custody. In October 2012, it was reported that SNS had over 330,000 members. The People's Party (NP), led by former mayor of Novi Sad Maja Gojković, merged into SNS in December 2012. By February 2013, SNS received over 40% of support in opinion polls, while DS, now in opposition, had 13% of support. In July 2013, SNS and SPS concluded that they would continue leading the government without URS; the SNS–SPS government was then reshuffled in early September 2013. Veroljub Arsić, who served as the head of the SNS
parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...
, was replaced by Zoran Babić in August 2013. A month later, Dragan Đilas, the
mayor of Belgrade The mayor of Belgrade () is the head of the City of Belgrade (the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia). The mayor acts on behalf of the city, and performs an Executive (government), executive function in th ...
, was dismissed after a
vote of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...
that was called by SNS and DSS; SPS and the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS) also voted in support of the vote. Guy de Launey, a ''
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
'' correspondent, Dragoljub Žarković, the co-founder of the ''
Vreme is a weekly news magazine based in Belgrade, Serbia. History In 1990, dissatisfied with the media climate in SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia's largest constituent unit, a group of liberal Serbian intellectuals, including prominent lawyer Srđa Popovi ...
'' newspaper, and journalist Koča Pavlović, stated that Vučić held the most influence and power in the government due to his status as the president of the largest party in the coalition government.
Freedom House Freedom House is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. It is best known for political advocacy surrounding issues of democracy, Freedom (political), political freedom, and human rights. Freedom House was founded in October 1941, wi ...
, a non-profit research organisation, noted that the efforts to curb corruption during 2013 received mixed results.


2014–2016

SNS held an assembly on 26 January 2014 at which Vučić was re-elected unopposed as the party's president. At the assembly, he proposed to "test the will of the people" and called for a snap parliamentary election. President Nikolić dissolved the National Assembly on 29 January and set the parliamentary election to be held on 16 March 2014. In February, SNS presented its ballot list under the name "Future We Believe In". Additionally, it was announced that the
Social Democratic Party of Serbia The Social Democratic Party of Serbia (, abbr. SDPS) is a centre-left political party in Serbia. Orientated towards the principles of social democracy, it has been led by Rasim Ljajić since its formation in 2009. History The Social Democr ...
(SDPS),
Serbian Renewal Movement The Serbian Renewal Movement (, abbr. SPO) is a liberal and monarchist political party in Serbia. It was founded in 1990 by writer Vuk Drašković, who served as the party's president until 2024. Aleksandar Cvetković is the incumbent leader. ...
(SPO), and Christian Democratic Party of Serbia (DHSS) would appear on its list, alongside NS, PS, and PSS, who appeared on the SNS list in 2012. SNS campaigned on its anti-corruption platform, although Aleksandar Pavković, a
Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...
professor, noted that there was no evidence that the platform decreased corruption. SNS also based its platform on criticising its opponents, especially DS. In the parliamentary election, the SNS-led coalition won a majority of 158 seats in the National Assembly. Simultaneously, the City Assembly elections were held in Belgrade, in which the SNS-led coalition won 63 out of 110 seats. Siniša Mali, an
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
nominated by SNS, was elected mayor of Belgrade on 24 April 2014. Vučić was elected and sworn in as prime minister three days later. His first cabinet was mostly composed of SNS and SPS individuals. A
United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...
(USAID) report noted that the SNS now had "complete political dominance" due to the status of Vučić as prime minister.
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
described the victory as an "unprecedented event". In October 2014, Radomir Nikolić, the son of President Nikolić, was brought to power in
Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the List of cities in Serbia, fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Se ...
, the fourth largest city in Serbia by population, after successfully removing Veroljub Stevanović from power after a vote of no confidence. By early 2015, SNS reported that it had around 500,000 members. Since coming to power, no major protests in Serbia were held until the anti-government protests in April 2015. The Do not let Belgrade drown (NDB) initiative, which headed the protests, opposed the Belgrade Waterfront, an urban development project headed by the
Government of Serbia The government of Serbia ( sr-cyrl, Влада Србије, Vlada Srbije), formally the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr-cyrl, Влада Републике Србије, Vlada Republike Srbije), commonly abbreviated to Serbian Governme ...
; one of its representatives described it as a "big scam". The project previously received criticism, with Milan Nešić, a ''
Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...
'' journalist, describing it as a "pre-election trick". The protests lasted up to September 2015. After the cuts in public sector, protests were also held in December 2015. Freedom House criticised the SNS-led government by stating that it displayed "a sharp intolerance for any kind of criticism either from opposition parties, independent media, civil society, or even ordinary citizens". In January 2016, Vučić announced that parliamentary elections will be held in April 2016. ''
Der Standard ''Der Standard'' () is an Austrian daily newspaper published in Vienna. It is considered a newspaper of record for Austria. History and profile ''Der Standard'' was founded by Oscar Bronner as a financial newspaper and published its first editio ...
'', an Austrian daily newspaper, stated that " učićnow has an absolute majority, and he wants to ensure it for the next four years". Vučić stated that the reason behind the snap election was to "ensure a fresh mandate to push European Union accession". SNS began its campaign in late February 2016. In early March, President Nikolić dissolved the National Assembly and scheduled the parliamentary elections for 24 April 2016. This time, SNS took part under the "Serbia Is Winning" banner, while individuals from the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS) and Serbian People's Party (SNP) were also present on its ballot list, including individuals from parties that took part with SNS in the 2014 election. It was also reported that Aleksandar Martinović would replace Babić as the head of the SNS parliamentary group. During the campaign, SNS expressed its support for the European Union and military neutrality, while maintaining cooperation with
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
, and ensuring economic reforms and a Western-type economy. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) noted that billboards and posters that promoted SNS were dominant during the campaign. In the parliamentary election, the SNS-led coalition won a majority of 131 seats in the National Assembly. Simultaneously, the provincial election was held in Vojvodina, in which SNS won 63 out of 120 seats in the Assembly of Vojvodina. Florian Bieber, a Luxembourgian political scientist, noted that "the landslide victory did not come as a surprise". DS, DSS, the Social Democratic Party (SDS), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV), Dveri, and Enough is Enough (DJB), all whom were in opposition to SNS, claimed that SNS allegedly stole the elections. Shortly after the election, opposition parties organised a protest in Belgrade. Another series of anti-government protests began in Belgrade in May 2016 after the demolition of private objects in Savamala, an urban neighbourhood in Belgrade where the Belgrade Waterfront project is supposed to be built. The NDB initiative organised the protests which ended up lasting until October 2016. Vučić was re-elected president of SNS in May 2016. Igor Mirović was elected president of the Government of Vojvodina in June 2016. Vučić was given the mandate by President Nikolić to form a government, which he did with SPS in August 2016. Ana Brnabić, an openly
lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
and independent politician, was appointed minister in the Vučić's cabinet. In December 2016, Vučić affirmed that he would not run in the 2017 presidential election, although he also stated that the main body of SNS would decide its presidential candidate.


2017–2019

In January 2017, President Nikolić stated that he would want to run for re-election, although ministers such as Zorana Mihajlović and Aleksandar Vulin persuaded Vučić to run instead. A month later, SNS announced Vučić as its presidential candidate. Vučić received support from the coalition partners of SNS, and SPS, Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (VMSZ), and
United Serbia United Serbia (, abbr. JS) is a national-conservative political party in Serbia. It split from the Party of Serbian Unity in 2004. The party has supported every government formed since its creation, and was briefly in government in 2022–23. ...
(JS). During the campaign period, it was reported that major newspapers, such as '' Alo!'', '' Blic'', '' Večernje novosti'', ''
Politika ( sr-Cyrl, Политика, lit=Politics) is a Serbian daily newspaper, published in Belgrade. Founded in 1904 by Vladislav F. Ribnikar, it is the oldest daily newspaper still in circulation in the Balkans. Publishing and ownership is publ ...
'', '' Dnevnik'', ''
Kurir ''Kurir'' is daily tabloid newspaper published in Belgrade, Serbia. History The first issue of ''Kurir'' appeared at newsstands on 6 May 2003. While Kurir's history is relatively short, it is also a checkered one. It goes back to the state of ...
'', and ''Srpski telegraf'', printed campaign posters of SNS on its front pages; ''
Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...
'' reported it as an "unprecedented move". Vučić campaigned on raising living standards, selling or shutting down state-owned companies, and
austerity In economic policy, austerity is a set of Political economy, political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through Government spending, spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three prim ...
cuts. Robert Creamer, an American political consultant, criticised him and stated that "Vučić would be in a position to select a prime minister of his choice, ndcontrol the judiciary, and the election apparatus — eliminating all checks and balances in the Serbian government". In the presidential election, Vučić won 55% of the popular vote in the first run-off. Shortly after his election, mass protests erupted in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, and other locations in Serbia. The protests lasted until Vučić's inauguration, which occurred on 31 May 2017. In June 2017, Vučić proposed Brnabić as prime minister. She was sworn in on 29 June 2017. ''Radio Free Europe'' noted that even though the presidency is a ceremonial role, Vučić has retained ''de facto'' power of SNS, while the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights claimed that the political system ''de facto'' turned into a presidential one, similar to the era of
Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Милошевић, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989 and 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...
. , a journalist for '' Danas'', reported that by October 2017 SNS was close to reaching 600,000 members. SNS announced its participation in the 2018 Belgrade City Assembly election under the "Because We Love Belgrade" banner in January 2018. Zoran Radojičić, a paediatric surgeon, was chosen to be the first candidate on its ballot list. At a conference in Belgrade Youth Center in February 2018, its ballot list candidates and election programme were presented. In the City Assembly election, SNS won 64 seats. , a non-governmental organisation, noted that SNS mostly criticised opposition politicians during the campaign period. Radojičić replaced Mali and was appointed mayor in June 2018. In July 2018, political scientist Boban Stojanović noted that SNS had around 700,000 members. A series of anti-government protests, dubbed 1 of 5 million, began in December 2018 after an assault on Borko Stefanović, an opposition politician. The demonstrators criticised Vučić and SNS, demanded the end to political violence and stifling media freedom and freedom of expression. The protests, which were attended by tens of thousands, continued into 2019. In January 2019, SNS organised a meeting in support of
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
's visit to Belgrade. A month later, SNS launched a campaign named "Future of Serbia", in contrary to the anti-government protests. Journalist Slobodan Georgiev noted that the campaign effectively silenced the protests. Prime Minister Brnabić joined SNS in October 2019.


2020–2022

In January 2020, Vučić announced that the
electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of votes that a candidate or political party requires before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can operate in various ...
would be lowered to 3 percent. Critics saw this as a way that SNS would allow the alleged "controlled opposition" to enter the National Assembly. SNS announced in February 2020 that it would take part under the "For Our Children" banner in the 2020 parliamentary election, stating that more than 50 percent of its ballot list would be comprised young people. The SNS-led ballot list was sent over to the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) on 5 March, although the government postponed the election on 16 March due to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia. Initially supposed to be held on 26 April, the election was postponed to 21 June 2020. In the same month, the anti-government protests which began in December 2018, formally ended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Alliance for Serbia (SzS), the major opposition alliance, announced that it would
boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...
the election, claiming that the elections would not be free and fair. Freedom House labelled Serbia as a
hybrid regime A hybrid regime is a type of political system often created as a result of an incomplete democratic transition from an authoritarian regime to a Democracy, democratic one (or vice versa). Hybrid regimes are categorized as having a combination of ...
in May 2020, citing alleged "increased state capture, abuse of power, and terror tactics" by Vučić. In June 2020, newspaper ''Danas'' reported that SNS had over 800,000 members. In the parliamentary election, the SNS-led coalition won a
supermajority A supermajority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fun ...
of 188 seats; ignoring minority parties, SNS, the SPS–JS coalition, and the Serbian Patriotic Alliance (SPAS) only crossed the electoral threshold. Vučić described it as a "historical moment". Journalist Milenko Vasović saw the SNS election campaign as a promotion of Vučić and not the party itself. Simultaneously, a provincial election was held in Vojvodina in which SNS also won a supermajority of 76 seats. CeSID concluded that the election was met with "minimum democratic standards", while OSCE characterised that the election was met with political polarisation. Bieber described it as a
pyrrhic victory A Pyrrhic victory ( ) is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Such a victory negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress. The phrase originates from a quote from ...
for SNS and noted that the incoming legislation would not include opposition parties. Journalist Patrick Kingsley stated that the election could allow "for greater momentum in peace talks with Kosovo". After gaining a supermajority in the National Assembly, the government of Serbia submitted a constitutional amendment regarding judiciary. In early July 2020, a series of protests and riots against the government and the announced tightening of measures due to the spread of COVID-19 began in Belgrade. It was reported that demonstrators took a peaceful approach in the protests, although that a group of
far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
demonstrators also stormed the building of the National Assembly; the police shortly after cleared the building, although the clashes continued outside. The government responded by taking a violent approach towards the demonstrators. The protests lasted until the first constitutive session of the post-2020 election legislation, which occurred on 3 August 2020. After the first constitutive session, the SNS parliamentary group changed its name to "Aleksandar Vučić – For Our Children". Prime Minister Brnabić was re-elected in October 2020, while her new cabinet was mostly composed of members of SNS, SPS, and SPAS. The National Assembly adopted the proposal for constitutional changes in December 2020. Vučić announced in early May 2021 that he submitted a proposal to merge SPAS into SNS. Aleksandar Šapić, the leader of SPAS, stated that he supported the proposal. The merge was completed on 26 May, after which Šapić was appointed vice-president of SNS while SPAS MPs joined SNS in June 2021. Dialogues to improve election conditions between government and opposition parties, in which SNS took part, began in May 2021 and lasted until late October 2021. A series of
environmental protests The Environmental Justice Atlas documented 3,100 Environmental conflict, environmental conflicts worldwide as of April 2020 and emphasised that many more conflicts remained undocumented. Climate * Global Climate March * Global Day of Action ...
began in September 2021 due to the concerns about the Project Jadar, a
lithium Lithium (from , , ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the ...
mining project headed by Rio Tinto, an Anglo-Australian mining company. The Government of Serbia supported the Project Jadar, whilst SNS officials also criticised the protests. The protests lasted until 15 February 2022. The government of Serbia adopted changes for the law on referendum and people's initiative on 10 November 2021. The changes received criticism due to the abolishment of the 50 percent turnout that was needed for referendums to pass. At the end of the November 2021, Vučić was re-elected president of SNS. In January 2022, a constitutional referendum was held. A majority of 60% of voters voted in favour of proposed changes, an option which was supported by SNS. In preparation for the 2022 general election, SNS and SPS announced that they would not run on a joint parliamentary list but that SPS would support the presidential candidate of SNS. Additionally, SNS announced Šapić as its mayoral candidate for the Belgrade City Assembly election. The National Assembly was dissolved in February 2022 to call snap parliamentary elections; presidential elections were called next month. In the 2022 election, SNS took part under the "Together We Can Do Everything" banner, while Vučić was announced as the presidential candidate of SNS in March 2022. Transparency Serbia noted that SNS had a significant domination in the media during the campaign period, while CRTA alleged that the campaign period was met in worse conditions than in 2020. In the presidential election, Vučić was re-elected after winning 60% of the popular vote, while in the parliamentary election, the SNS-led coalition won 120 seats. In the Belgrade City Assembly election, the SNS-led coalition won 48 seats. Šapić was elected mayor of Belgrade in June 2022. Milenko Jovanov was appointed head of the SNS parliamentary group in August 2022, replacing Martinović, who was its head since 2016. Later that month, Prime Minister Brnabić was given another mandate to form a government. The composition of her third cabinet was announced on 23 October, while the cabinet was sworn in on 26 October.


2023–present

In February 2023, two MPs as well as two members of the City Assembly of Belgrade formerly affiliated with the Serbian Party Oathkeepers (SSZ) defected to SNS, citing their disapproval with their former party's leader. Later that month, another member of the City Assembly of Belgrade defected to SNS, while in March 2023, an MP that was previously a member of the Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia (POKS) defected to SNS. Better Serbia, led by its only MP Dragan Jovanović, merged into SNS in April. Žika Gojković, the former leader of POKS, joined SNS in late October 2023. Beginning in September 2022, speculations arose whether Vučić would form a separate political party. Vučić confirmed the formation of the People's Movement for the State (NPZD), a political movement, in March 2023. It was announced that SNS will be a member of the movement. Initially, the movement was set to be formed by May 2023, however, the date of the formalisation was then moved to autumn 2023. At the SNS main board session, held in October 2023, there were no mentions of NPZD, however, later that month, Vučić announced that NPZD will be formalised "in the coming period". Vučić revived the question about the formation of the NPZD in February 2024; he said that the movement "should continue the economic growth of Serbia and defend erbia'snational and state interests" (''koji će imati snage da ubrza ekonomski rast Srbije i odbrani naše nacionalne i državne interese''). In an interview in December 2024, Vučić announced that the movement is scheduled to be formed on 15 March 2025 and that he would not preside over the movement. A rally promoting the movement was held on 24 January 2025. A party assembly and a leadership election was held on 27 May 2023. Miloš Vučević was elected as Vučić's successor and president of SNS. Journalist Ana Lalić characterised the change as "cosmetic". Vučević is a close associate and lawyer of the Vučić family, including Andrej Vučić. Following the mass shootings in May 2023, the Belgrade school shooting and a mass murder near Mladenovac and Smederevo, SNS was met with anti-government protests, dubbed Serbia Against Violence. The protests were attended by tens of thousands of demonstrators and despite being organised by opposition parties, no party signs were reported to be seen at the protests. Due to SNS not accepting the demands of the protests, opposition parties organising the protests started demanding for early elections in September 2023. Throughout 2023, Vučić announced several times that he would call early elections, ultimately setting 17 December as the date of the elections once opposition parties started demanding early election. For the 2023 parliamentary election, SNS announced that it would contest under the Serbia Must Not Stop banner with its allies. In the parliamentary election, SNS was also joined by opposition-turned-pro-government parties such as
Milan Stamatović Milan Stamatović (Serbian Cyrillic: Милан Стаматовић, ; born 24 May 1960) is a Serbian politician who has been the president of the municipality of Čajetina since 2004. He was an independent candidate in the 2017 Serbian preside ...
's
Healthy Serbia Healthy Serbia (, abbr. ZS) is a right-wing political party in Serbia. It was founded in 2017 by Milan Stamatović, the long-time mayor of Čajetina. History After leaving the Democratic Party of Serbia and further disagreements with the Pr ...
, Tatjana Macura formerly of Party of Modern Serbia, Radoslav Milojičić's Serbian Left, and Dejan Bulatović's Alliance of Social Democrats. Provincial elections were also called on 16 November; SNS submitted its electoral list on the same day. For the first time, Mirović did not appear on the SNS electoral list for the provincial election. In the parliamentary election, the SNS-led coalition won 128 seats, 103 seats of which went to SNS alone. In the provincial election, it won 53 seats and in the Belgrade City Assembly election, it won 40 seats. The Belgrade City Assembly election resulted in a
hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system (typically employing Majoritarian representation, majoritarian electoral systems) to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing ...
. After the elections, the Serbia Against Violence coalition organised anti-government protests up to 30 December. Once the 14th National Assembly of Serbia was constituted, Jovanov continued to chair the SNS-led parliamentary group. The City Assembly of Belgrade was not constituted because the quorum was not met during the constitutive session. This resulted into the 2024 Belgrade City Assembly election. For this election, SNS formed a joint electoral list with its partners, including SPS and SSZ. Vučević said that the electoral list is effectively the NPZD. Journalist Zoran Panović said that with the formation of the electoral list, the NPZD was also effectively created, despite not having an official announcement. In the election, the Belgrade Tomorrow electoral list won 52 percent of the popular vote and 64 out of 110 seats in the
City Assembly of Belgrade The City Assembly of Belgrade ( sr-cyrl, Скупштина града Београда, Skupština grada Beograda) is the legislature of Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia. Latest election results The following are results of the 2024 Belgrad ...
. During Vučević's term as prime minister, the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapsed in November 2024. In the aftermath, ministers Goran Vesić and Tomislav Momirović resigned. Soon after, mass student-led anti-corruption protests began in December 2024. Amidst the protests, Vučić claimed that within SNS he had 17,000 "extremely
pro-Russian Russophilia is the identification or solidarity with, appreciation of, or support for the Russia, country, Russians, people, Russian language, language, and history of Russia. One who espouses Russophilia is called a russophile. Its Opposite ...
oriented loyalists", including his brother Andrej Vučić, who swore a blood oath to defend him and his regime against an alleged Western-backed " colour revolution" in Serbia. After a group of students were physically attacked in Novi Sad by the party activists, Vučević tendered his resignation from office on 28 January 2025.


Ideology and platform


Political leanings

Following the establishment of SNS,
Aleksandar Vučić Aleksandar Vučić, (born 5 March 1970) is a Serbian politician serving as President of Serbia since 2017. A founding member of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), he previously served as President of the SNS from 2012 to 2023, Deputy Prim ...
denounced his previous support for the establishment of
Greater Serbia The term Greater Serbia or Great Serbia () describes the Serbian nationalist and irredentist ideology of the creation of a Serb state which would incorporate all regions of traditional significance to Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group, inclu ...
, while Tomislav Nikolić stated that SNS would continue the accession of Serbia to the European Union. SNS declared its main tasks to be "fight against corruption and the realisation of the rule of law", while describing itself as a "state-building party". Its
white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. Since the 199 ...
(election programme) was published in October 2011. Jovan Teokarević, an associate professor at the Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences, described their ideological orientation as a "complete u-turn" in comparison with the Serbian Radical Party (SRS). Bojana Barlovac, a ''
Balkan Insight ''Balkan Insight'' is a website of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) that focuses on news, socio-political analysis, commentary, and investigative reporting from Southeastern Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is ...
'' journalist, stated that SNS "became much closer to DS on its policy profile", although in 2013, she described the party as
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
. SNS has been described as a populist party. SNS presented itself as a party of the ordinary people who were "left behind socioeconomically by the transition to democracy and a market economy". Biserko stated that SNS is populist and that it built its ideological image on "social dissatisfaction". Zoran Lutovac, a political scientist and future president of DS, described SNS as populist. He also added that SNS does not have a "coherent ideology" and that its coalition "includes everyone, regardless of their ideology". Scholars and political scientists such as Justin Vaïsse and Florian Bieber also agreed that SNS is populist. Zoran Stojiljković and Dušan Spasojević, professors at the Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences, noted that following the formation of SNS, the Serbian political system acquired characteristics of moderate pluralism, and described SNS as a catch-all party. Additionally, they noted that SNS was formed as a
centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
party, although its image shifted to the centre after the 2012 elections. Stojiljković and Spasojević also noted that SNS showed "clear populistic elements", and that "populist ideas are integral and important for its ideological profile". Marko Stojić, a Metropolitan University Prague lecturer, also noted that SNS has an eclectic and weakly-rooted ideological profile and that it lacks firm political principles, while he also described SNS as a "typical catch-all party". Eric Gordy, a professor at the
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
, considers SNS to be a party "based around učić. Political analyst Ivana Petronijević Terzić has described SNS as clientelistic and said that SNS does not represent any ideology or a category of population. Dušan Milenković, a political consultant, compared SNS to the
League of Communists of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats ...
(SKJ), however, he added that unlike SKJ, SNS does not express a clear ideology and its policy is rather based on populist measures that span across wide spectrum of political ideologies, from the left to the right. de Launey described SNS as a "ideologically elusive" party. Ognjen Zorić of ''Radio Free Europe'' also described the party as centrist and catch-all, although it noted that "some analysts also stated that the party is right-leaning and conservative". Bieber described SNS
centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
but also as "non-ideological". ''
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
'' noted that SNS "does not have a clear programmatic nor ideological vision", and added that SNS functions as a catch-all party. Bojan Klačar of CeSID stated that SNS "espouses a right-of-centre ideology", but stated that "more importantly, SNS is a catch-all party" that captures a wide variety of opinions, and that SNS can be also considered to be liberal and pro-European. Political scientists Đorđe Pavićević and Boban Stojanović, journalist Ivan Radovanović, and authors Aleksandar Marinković and Novak Gajić also described SNS as a catch-all party. ''Danas'' noted that as a catch-all party, SNS has sought to "attract all voters, regardless of ideological commitment" and has flirted with "the most diverse ideologies". Journalist Vuk Jeremić described SNS as a centrist party that includes elements from the left and the right that are "all packaged in a populist form" (''sve upakovano u populistički pitku formu''). Political analyst
Đorđe Vukadinović Đorđe Vukadinović ( sr-cyr, Ђорђе Вукадиновић; born 23 October 1962) is a Serbian philosopher, political analyst, and journalist. Biography Vukadinović was born in Sombor on 23 October 1962. He graduated from the University ...
said that the image of SNS is very complex and that its rhetoric is the complete opposite of its actual actions. Political scientist Vassilis Petsinis stated that SNS took advantage of fragmentation of centrist and centre-right political parties and that it has consolidated its grip on power by dominating the "continuum that stretches from the liberal centre to the conservative right". Additionally, political scientist Branislav Radeljić, author Laurence Mitchell, and
Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains offi ...
in their ''
The Statesman's Yearbook ''The Statesman's Yearbook'' is a one-volume reference book published annually since 1864 providing information on the countries of the world. It is published by Palgrave Macmillan. History In the middle of the nineteenth century, the British ...
'' had described SNS as centrist, while George Vasilev, a
La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...
lecturer, and Srđan Mladenov Jovanović, a scholar, described SNS as centre-right; some authors had also described it as a
right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...
party. Sociologist Jovo Bakić described SNS as a "pragmatically re-profiled" and moderately conservative party, and compared its development to Gianfranco Fini's projects in Italy. Additionally, he stated that "since its foundation SNS had wanted to remodel itself as a conservative party". Some scholars and journalists also described SNS as conservative, liberal-conservative, and
national-conservative National conservatism is a nationalism, nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding National identity, national and cultural identity, communitarianism and the public role of religion. It shares aspects of traditionalist c ...
. Stojić said that even though SNS "claimed to belong to the onservativefamily", it is essentially pragmatic and weakly ideologically profiled.


Economy

SNS is economically
neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...
, and it advocates for austerity,
market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a mark ...
reforms,
privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...
, reduced spending, and
liberalisation Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used ...
of
labour law Labour laws (also spelled as labor laws), labour code or employment laws are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship be ...
s. Stojiljković and Spasojević noted that SNS already displayed their neoliberal position during the 2012 election period, and that SNS campaigned on significantly reducing subsidies, but also the number of MPs, ministries, agencies, institutes, and the state administration. Additionally, Stojiljković described its position as "neoliberal populist". While in power, SNS has introduced a law that reformed wages and pensions, which received controversy as wages and pensions were reduced by this law. It has also reformed the
labour law Labour laws (also spelled as labor laws), labour code or employment laws are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship be ...
, introduced a lex specialis for Belgrade Waterfront, and reformed the law on financial assistance to families and organ donations.


Media and civil liberties

SNS has enacted
centralisation Centralisation or centralization (American English) is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning, decision-making, and framing strategies and policies, become concentrated within a particular ...
policies, especially in Vojvodina. Since coming to power in 2012, observers have assessed that Serbia has suffered from
democratic backsliding Democratic backsliding or autocratization is a process of regime change toward autocracy in which the exercise of political power becomes more arbitrary and repressive. The process typically restricts the space for public contest and politi ...
into
authoritarianism Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...
, followed by a decline in media freedom and
civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...
. A research that was conducted by ''Cenzolovka'' in 2015 noted that SNS used media outlets to further their influence. Additionally, SNS was accused of paying
internet troll In slang, a troll is a person who posts deliberately offensive or provocative messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, an online video game) or who performs similar behaviors in real life. The methods and ...
s to praise the government and condemn those who think the opposite on internet forums and social networks. In 2020,
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
suspended 8,558 accounts that promoted SNS and Vučić, whilst criticising the opposition. Meta suspended 5,374 accounts and 12 Facebook groups that were connected to SNS in the fourth quarter of 2022, stating that the "SNS network functioned differently than traditional troll networks". Additionally, Meta revealed that SNS spent over USD$ 150,000 on
advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...
on Facebook and Instagram. In July 2023, 14,310 Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts that praised the SNS, Vučić, and the government and criticised the opposition were leaked to the public, including their full names and places of origins. In response, member of parliament Nebojša Bakarec started a campaign named "Yes, I am a bot", with Vučić later uploading a photo on Instagram titled "Yes, I am too a SNS bot". In 2021, the V-Dem Institute categorised Serbia as an electoral autocracy; the institute also stated that the standards of judiciary and electoral integrity had declined in the past ten years. According to the
Freedom House Freedom House is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. It is best known for political advocacy surrounding issues of democracy, Freedom (political), political freedom, and human rights. Freedom House was founded in October 1941, wi ...
's report from 2022, SNS has "eroded political rights and civil liberties, put pressure on independent media, the political opposition, and civil society organisations". Additionally, it reported that internet portals close to the government that "manipulate facts and slander independent media" continued to receive public funds on state and local levels. As a response, Vučić and Brnabić criticised Freedom House's report.


Foreign policies

Journalists have described SNS as
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''. Pol ...
. SNS advocates for close economic and political ties, as well as accession of Serbia to the European Union, alongside "productive ties" with Russia. Biserko stated that its support for European Union is rather a "declarative support", and not a substantial one. Stojić described SNS as "soft Euroenthusiast". Additionally, Vladimir Goati, a political scientist, described the position of SNS towards the European Union rather as pragmatic, than ideological, while economic anthropologist Jovana Diković described SNS as "euro-pragmatic". In a 2014 report, Freedom House noted that the SNS-led government advanced Serbia's efforts regarding the European Union. Dragan Đukanović, a Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences professor, noted that SNS received support from the U.S. and European Union due to its pro-European agenda. Sonja Biserko, a human rights activist, argued in 2013 that SNS declaratively adopted the agenda of DS and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) regarding the views on the European Union. ''
Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...
'', an American socialist magazine, described SNS as a fusion of "a
nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
,
pro-Russian Russophilia is the identification or solidarity with, appreciation of, or support for the Russia, country, Russians, people, Russian language, language, and history of Russia. One who espouses Russophilia is called a russophile. Its Opposite ...
wing and a modernizing, pro-European wing", while describing Nikolić as being represented in the pro-Russian wing, and Vučić in the pro-European wing, although that both wings agree on neoliberal austerity. A
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two 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 ...
-published study noted that the SNS-led government continued the "four-pillar policy", a policy that seeks cooperation with European Union, United States, Russia, and China, which was introduced by
Boris Tadić Boris Tadić, (born 15 January 1958) is a Serbian politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2004 to 2012. Born in Sarajevo, he graduated from the University of Belgrade with a degree in psychology. He later worked as a journalist ...
, the former president of Serbia and leader of DS. During the 2015 European migrant crisis, the SNS-led government did not impose any restrictions on migrants while crossing into the European Union, which author Vedran Džihić as a pragmatic move. Stojić described the move as "populist-Euroenthusiastic". SNS supports military neutrality and it opposes joining
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
, although Serbia has continued militarily cooperating with NATO. Following the beginning of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
, the government of Serbia led by SNS has condemned the invasion but has not implemented sanctions on Russia. In the United Nations, Serbia voted in favour of resolutions that condemned the invasion of Ukraine. Nikola Selaković of SNS has also said that Serbia would not recognise the 2022 annexation referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine. Vučić has also criticised the
Wagner Group The Wagner Group (), officially known as PMC Wagner (, ), is a Russian state-funded private military company (PMC) controlled 2023 Wagner Group plane crash, until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir Pu ...
and has described Ukraine as Serbia's friend.


Demographic characteristics

Political scientist Slaviša Orlović noted in 2011 that supporters of SNS tended to be the unemployed, pensioners, and housewives. According to the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID) in 2012, a majority of SNS supporters were male, primary or high school educated, workers', technicians, and dependents, while they had a widespread age structure. In 2014, CeSID reported that its voting base now mostly consisted of people over age of 50, while ideologically speaking, they did not possess any dominant value determination. According to a 2016 opinion poll conducted by '' Nova srpska politička misao'', most of its supporters were over 60 years old, while only 12% of its supporters were highly educated.


Organisation

SNS has a presidency which acts as the operational and political body of the party; it is composed of 30 members. It also has a main board and an executive board. The current president of SNS is Miloš Vučević, who was elected in 2023; Jorgovanka Tabaković is the deputy president. Aleksandar Šapić, Ana Brnabić, Marko Đurić, Nevena Đurić, Irena Vujović, Siniša Mali, and Vladimir Orlić are the current vice-presidents of SNS; all of them were elected in 2021 and re-elected in 2023, except Vujović, who was not elected in 2021. Milenko Jovanov has been the head of the SNS parliamentary group since 2022, while Darko Glišić is the president of the party's executive board. The headquarters of SNS is located at Palmira Toljatija 5/3 in
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
. SNS publishes ''SNS Informator'', the party's newspaper. It also has a
youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood (Maturity (psychological), maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as bei ...
and
women's wing A women's wing, sometimes also known as a women's group or women's branch, is an auxiliary or independent front or faction within a larger organization, typically a political party, that consists of that organization's female membership or acts to ...
. SNS also operates the , which it formed in 2019. SNS has received most of its support because of Vučić; an opinion poll conducted by Faktor Plus in December 2014 noted that 80% of SNS voters would not vote for SNS if someone else than Vučić was the head of the party. With at least 800,000 members as of 2020, SNS is the largest political party in Europe by membership as of 2019. N1 reported in 2024 that SNS had 700,000 members. Petronijević Terzić has stated in 2023 that SNS has used local self-government bodies for party purposes and funds of local public companies for party gatherings, rallies, and promotions. Transparency Serbia has also reported that during the 2016 parliamentary election campaign period SNS has used official events, such as the opening of private factories, to spread their election messages.


International cooperation

In 2011, SNS signed a cooperation agreement with the
Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right, right-wing populist, national-conservative, and Eurosceptic. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five part ...
. SNS also cooperated with
Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; ) is a national-conservative political party in Hungary led by Viktor Orbán. It has increasingly identified as illiberal. Originally formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young Democrats () as ...
, the ruling party of Hungary; Fidesz members attended an SNS rally in 2019. In 2014, it was reported that SNS had ties with the
New Serb Democracy New Serb Democracy (NSD), officially abbreviated as NOVA, is a Serbian nationalist right-wing political party in Montenegro, formed on 24 January 2009 as a merger between Serb People's Party and the People's Socialist Party of Montenegro. Since ...
in Montenegro, while SNS officials also attended a Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) rally in 2015. SNS has been accused of "practically running" the Serb List in Kosovo, while Vučić has been also accused of being "figure behind" the party. SNS representatives in the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...
(PACE) joined the
European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...
(EPP) in 2013. In the same year, SNS received support from the
Christian Democratic Union of Germany The Christian Democratic Union of Germany ( , CDU ) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is the major party of the centre-right in German politics. Friedrich Merz has been federal chairman of the CDU since 31 ...
(CDU) due to the establishment of the Brussels Agreement. SNS has received support from the CDU in regards to membership in the EPP in 2015. A year later, SNS and its youth wing became associate members of EPP. SNS officials attended CDU's congress in 2018. SNS became a member of the
International Democracy Union The International Democracy Union (IDU; known as the International Democrat Union until September 2023) is an international alliance of centre-right to right-wing political parties. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, the IDU consists of 84 fu ...
in 2018. In the PACE, SNS was also affiliated with the Free Democrats Group; Dubravka Filipovski once served as its vice-chairperson. SNS took part in a meeting with
Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
(CCP) officials in 2019. At the meeting, the parties "pledged to forge ever-closer links". SNS officials were also present in a 2021 summit that was organised by CCP, while in 2023 SNS described CCP as its inspiration. SNS established connections with
United Russia The All-Russian Political Party United Russia (, ) is the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Russia, political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the St ...
(YeR) in 2010. Tomislav Nikolić was present at a YeR congress in 2011, while a year later, SNS officials were present at a YeR conference. Since then, SNS and YeR have signed several cooperation agreements, most recently being in 2021.


List of presidents


Timeline


Electoral performance


Parliamentary elections

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Presidential elections


Provincial elections

ImageSize = width:550 height:70 PlotArea = width:500 height:50 left:20 bottom:20 DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2008 till:31/12/2024 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/2008 Legend = columns:2 left:40 top:75 columnwidth:90 # there is no automatic collision detection, # so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap Colors= id:Government value:green legend:Government id:Opposition value:red legend:Opposition Define $dx = 25 # shift text to right side of bar Define $dy = -1 # adjust height PlotData= bar:Govern. color:blue width:25 mark:(line,black) align:center from:21/10/2008 till:20/06/2016 shift:($dx,$dy) color:Opposition from:20/06/2016 till:end shift:($dx,$dy) color:Government


Belgrade City Assembly elections

ImageSize = width:600 height:70 PlotArea = width:500 height:50 left:20 bottom:20 DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2008 till:31/12/2024 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/2008 Legend = columns:3 left:40 top:75 columnwidth:90 Colors= id:Government value:green legend:Government id:Opposition value:red legend:Opposition Define $dx = 25 Define $dy = -1 PlotData= bar:Govern. color:blue width:25 mark:(line,black) align:center from:21/10/2008 till:24/04/2014 shift:($dx,$dy) color:Opposition from:24/04/2014 till:end shift:($dx,$dy) color:Government


References


Primary sources

In the text these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Serbian Progressive Party 2008 establishments in Serbia International Democracy Union member parties Neoliberal parties Political parties established in 2008 Populist parties Pro-European political parties in Serbia