Social Democratic Party of Montenegro (; or just the Social Democratic Party, abbr. SDP) is 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 ...

and

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

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, ...

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. It is the only party in Montenegro to have full membership in the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

. From 1998 until the 2016

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

split, it was a minor coalition partner of the Democratic Party of Socialists, that led Montenegro from the introduction of the multi-party system until the 2020 Montenegrin parliamentary election.

History

On 14 July 1991, members of Union of Reform Forces of Yugoslavia (SRSJ) from four coastal municipalities in the SR Montenegro, Herceg Novi,

Kotor Kotor (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian language, Italian: ), is a town in Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has ...

, Tivat and

Budva Budva (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Будва, or ) is a town in the Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro. It had 27,445 inhabitants as of 2023, and is the centre of Budva Municipality. The coastal area around Budva, called the Budv ...

, who were subsequently joined by reformists from

Cetinje Cetinje ( cnr-Cyrl, Цетиње, ) is a List of cities and towns in Montenegro, town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital ( cnr-Latn-Cyrl, prijestonica, приjестоница, separator=" / ") of Montenegro and is the location of sev ...

, formed the first regional Montenegrin political party - the ''Alliance of Reformists of the Montenegrin Coastline'' with Miodrag Marović as President. On 7 July 1992, the League united with Žarko Rakčević's Party of Socialists desiring to create a major Montenegrin party, forming the ''Social Democratic Party of Reformists (SDPR)''. Finally, on 12 June 1993, the ''Social Democratic Party of Reformists'' merged with the ''Socialist Party of Montenegro'' forming the ''Social Democratic Party of Montenegro'', which was joined by smaller groups like the ''Independent Organization of Communists'' of Bar, the ''Alliance of Reform forces of Yugoslavia for Montenegro'' and the ''Party of National Tolerance'' and uniting the forces that opposed the policies of the Milošević regime during the

Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

. Eventually, ''Yugoslav People's Party'' and ''Old Yugoslav People's Party'' also merged into SDP in the following years. Notable founders include Žarko Rakčević, Dragiša Burzan and Ljubiša Stanković. When the policies of the ruling

Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) ** Democratic Par ...

(DPS) turned towards the goal of full independence for Montenegro, DPS and SDP started working closely together to achieve this goal. Allying itself with the DPS and Đukanović ahead of the 1998 parliamentary elections allowed the SDP to enter the parliament for the first time in its history. Since the 1998 election, SDP has continued to a minor coalition partner of DPS and a part of every Montenegrin government between 1998 and 2015. The goal of restoration of the Montenegrin independence was achieved following the victory in a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

held on 21 May 2006. President of the Parliament of Montenegro from 2003 to 2016, Ranko Krivokapić, officially proclaimed the independence of Montenegro on 3 June 2006. Following the shift of the party towards a more critical and independent political course, in Autumn 2015 the pro-DPS faction of SDP formed a new party named Social Democrats of Montenegro (SD). On 22 January 2016, SDP officially left the ruling

with DPS and announced its support for a vote of no confidence against the government of Milo Đukanović on 25 January 2016. In the following 2016 parliamentary election SDP ran independently for the first time since 1996, and retained its parliamentary status, winning 5.23% of votes. At the 2018 presidential elections, SDP nominated its MP Draginja Vuksanović, who was the first female presidential candidate in the history of Montenegro. Vuksanović finished third, winning 8.2% of the votes.Vuksanović poručila da neće odustati od kandidature
Vijesti, 14 April 2018 On 29 June 2019, after Krivokapić resignation, Vuksanović was elected new president of the Party, making her the only female president of a Montenegrin political party, at the time. On this occasion, former President Krivokapic has been named honorary president.

Electoral performance

Parliamentary elections

Presidential elections

Positions held

Major positions held by Social Democratic Party of Montenegro members:

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control 1993 establishments in Montenegro Centre-left parties in Europe Full member parties of the Socialist International Montenegrin nationalism Parties related to the Party of European Socialists Pro-European political parties in Montenegro Progressive Alliance Social democratic parties in Montenegro