Independent Democratic Serbian Party
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| Independent Democratic Serbian Party | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Vojislav Stanimirović |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Vukovar |
| Political ideology | Political parties of minorities, social-democracy |
| International affiliation | none |
| Website | Independent Democratic Serbian Party |
The Independent Democratic Serbian Party (Samostalna demokratska srpska stranka, SDSS – Cyrillic: Самостална демократска српска странка) is a political party of Serbs living in Croatia.
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[edit] History
It was formed in 1997 as a liberal/social-democrat party said to be based on the doctrine of Svetozar Pribićević's Independent Democratic Party from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
The party is led by Vojislav Stanimirović and aims to facilitate the return of Serb refugees who in 1995, in the face of Operation Storm, fled out of Croatia. Operation Storm was a military operation in which the Croatian military and police retook the main part of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina, thus restoring Croatian government control up to and including the Republic of Croatia's internationally recognised boundaries.
In the elections of November 2003, it beat its main rival, the Serb People's Party (SNS), taking all three seats reserved for Serb representatives in the Croatian parliament.
After the elections, the Independent Democratic Serbian Party made an agreement with the winning HDZ party (Croatian Democratic Union) led by Ivo Sanader in which they agree on fulfilling several SDSS demands such as refugee return, strengthening of national equality, judicial reform and cooperation with neighbouring countries.
[edit] Self-definition
SDSS is a democratic party of liberal and socialdemocratic orientation, but under present circumstances, also a Serbian national party.
Political goals:
- refugee return, especially Serbs with finishing renewal of war damaged areas
- right to buy earlier state-owned flats, under earlier legislation (before peaceful reintegration of Croatian Podunavlje, when deadline for buying state-owned flats ended)
- state protection and securing of existing rights of national minorities, especially Serbs
- cultural and educational autonomy of Serbs in Croatia, through use of Serbian language and writings, use of Serbian national symbols, education in Serbian, foundation of Serbian organization in education and culture, foundation of Serbian information media and the maintaining of Serbian traditions and customs
- professionalization of the armed forces
- regionalism and decentralization
- Croatian integration into EU and developing economic relations with Serbia and Montenegro
