Serbian Radical Party

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For other uses, see Serbian Radical Party (disambiguation).
Serbian Radical Party
Српска радикална странка
Srpska radikalna stranka
Leader Vojislav Šešelj (president),
Dragan Todorović (vice president, active leader)
Founded 1991
Headquarters Magistratski trg 3, 11080 Zemun - Belgrade
Political ideology Nationalism,[1][2]
National conservatism,
Anti-Globalism,
Russophilia,
Right-wing populism [3][4][5]
International affiliation None
European affiliation None
Colour(s) Blue, White
Website srs.org.rs
Also about
Serbian politics		 Politics
List of political parties
Elections

The Serbian Radical Party (Serbian: Српска радикална странка, Srpska radikalna stranka, SRS) is a ultra-nationalist[6] right-wing political party in Serbia founded in 1991.[7] The party was active in the Republika Srpska and the Republic of Serbian Krajina in the early 1990s. The SRS has branches in three of today's nations which border Serbia, all were previously federal republics of the former Yugoslavia. It is registered as Party of Serb Radicals in Montenegro, and Serbian Radical Party of the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Croatia former members of Serbian Radical Party active during the existence of Republic of Serb Krajina founded Party of Danube Serbs and broke its ties with today's Serbian Radical Party. In 2006 in the neighboring nation, the Republic of Macedonia, a Radical Party of Serbs in Macedonia was registered and it contested the 2006 Parliamentary elections.

During and after the Bosnian War, the party's president was Vojislav Šešelj. After he surrendered to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2003 to stand trial for accusations of war crimes, he was replaced by the deputy president, Tomislav Nikolić. Nikolić supports the Accession of Serbia to the European Union, while Šešelj disagreed with Nikolić's proposal in this regard. This disagreement led Nikolić to resign from the SRS on September 6, 2008. His faction launched a new party, the Serbian Progressive Party.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Foundation and early years

The party was formed in 1991 when the People's Radical Party (a party from the 1990s, not Nikola Pašić's People's Radical Party) and the Serbian Chetnik Movement merged. The Serbian Chetnik Movement was formed after a split in the Serbian Renewal Movement in 1990. It supports the Greater Serbian ideal and is said to claim Chetnik heritage. On 23 December 2007 the Party of Serbian Unity of the assassinated Željko Ražnatović (alias "Arkan") merged into the SRS.

During the 1990-2000 period it was in and out of opposition, with the leader, Vojislav Šešelj, landing in jail in 1994. When in power, it was as a coalition partner with the Socialist Party of Serbia. During the war in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina Šešelj was associated with the activities of Serbian paramilitary forces. The Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague indicted Šešelj, accusing him of war crimes. He surrendered to the ICTY in 2003 and has been on trial since November 2007.[8]

[edit] Electoral successes

The Serbian Radical Party headquarters in Zemun, Belgrade

In the 2003 general elections, the SRS picked up a plurality of seats and votes, with 28% of the popular vote, and ended up with 82 out of 250 seats. In the Serbian parliamentary election of 2007, the SRS won 1,153,453 votes, 29 percent of the total, and ended up with 81 seats. The SRS caucus in parliament elected Tomislav Nikolić its president and Aleksandar Vučić its vice-president. On the National Assembly's first session on February 14 2007 the entire caucus voted to reject the proposal of United Nations Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari for the preliminary resolution of the status of Kosovo. In the Serbian parliamentary election of 2008, SRS again won 29 percent of the vote and ended up with won 78 seats. The party's caucus reelected Nikolić its president and elected Dragan Todorović its vice-president.

The party has also taken 17 seats in the Community Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija.[9]

[edit] Breakup

On September 8, 2008, Tomislav Nikolić, after disagreements with Šešelj, formed a new parliamentary group called "Napred Srbijo!" (English: Forward Serbia!) which was joined by a number of other Radical Party members. On September 11, 2008 Vojislav Šešelj responded with a letter addressed to Radical Party members in which he condemned the Nikolić group as "traitors, western puppets and agents". He also called on all SRS members to remain loyal to the ideology of "Serbian nationalism, antiglobalism and Russophilia".[10] On September 12, 2008 Nikolić and his group were officially expelled from the Radical Party.[11] In response, Nikolić announced he would form his own party.[12] On September 14, Aleksandar Vučić, secretary-general of SRS and a very popular figure among party supporters, resigned from Serbian Radical Party.[13] The splinters led by Nikolić and Vučić launched the Serbian Progressive Party.

[edit] Ideology

The Radical Party's policies include implementing United Nations Resolution 1244 allowing the Serbian police and Serbian army to protect Serbian citizens in the province of Kosovo, still deemed to be a Serbian province despite the declaration of independence on February 18, 2008. Since the watershed electoral event of 2003, the party has added many social elements to its program.

[edit] Popular support

[edit] Parliamentary elections

[edit] Presidential results

[edit] Further reading

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6296601.stm
  2. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/24/AR2007012401340.html
  3. ^ Southeast Europe Portal - Serbia: Local Elections 2004 Results
  4. ^ Guardian: Extreme nationalist elected speaker of Serbian parliament
  5. ^ Boston.com news article: Milosevic ally gains key Serbian post
  6. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/24/AR2007012401340.html
  7. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/24/AR2007012401340.html
  8. ^ "Profile: Vojislav Seselj" BBC News 27 November 2006
  9. ^ "Kosovo Serbs convene parliament; Pristina, international authorities object". Southeast European Times. 2008-06-30. http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2008/06/30/feature-01. Retrieved on 2008-07-01. 
  10. ^ [1]
  11. ^ http://www.mtsmondo.com/news/vesti/text.php?vest=109274
  12. ^ http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2008/09/12/nb-05
  13. ^ http://www.mtsmondo.com/news/vesti/text.php?vest=109484

[edit] External links

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