New Serb Democracy

New Serb Democracy
Нова српска демократија
Nova srpska demokratija
Leader Andrija Mandić
Founded 24 January 2009
Merger of Serb People's Party,
People's Socialist Party
Headquarters Podgorica
Ideology National conservatism[1]
Conservatism[2]
Serbian–Montenegrin unionism[1]
National affiliation Democratic Front
Colours Blue
Parliament of Montenegro
8 / 81
Website
www.nova.org.me
Politics of Montenegro
Political parties
Elections

New Serb Democracy (Serbian: Нова српска демократија / Nova srpska demokratija), or NOVA, is a political party in Montenegro, formed on 24 January 2009 as a merger between the Serb People's Party and the People's Socialist Party of Montenegro.[3]

Envisioned as a broad coalition of pro-Serb parties of Montenegro centred on the Serb List, it would potentially include Democratic Serb Party as well as various Serb cultural and political organisations. However, the merger was more limited, as only the Serb People's Party, People's Socialist Party of Montenegro and Matica Boke cultural organisation came to a merger agreement.

New Serb Democracy is led by Andrija Mandić, leader of the former Serb List. Mandić sought to transform the Serb List into a more civic-oriented party, in order to boost the party's coalition potential, and even the dropping the Serb prefix from the newly formed party's name was considered. This idea was met with strong resistance during the merger talks.

The party won 8 seats in the 2009 parliamentary election.[4]

History

Serb List coalition

Serb List (Serbian: Српска листа/Srpska lista) was a political alliance in Montenegro. In contrast to other political coalitions, the Serb List was not simply a coalition of parties, but an entity on its own; for instance, the MPs elected on its list are not considered to represent the party they originally come from, but the Serb List. Serb List was transformed into New Serb Democracy, formed on 24 January 2009 as a merger of the national-conservative Serb People's Party and the People's Socialist Party of Montenegro.[5]

At the elections in Montenegro, on September 10, 2006, the party won 12 out of 81 seats. It was the strongest opposition list in the Parliament.

Besides the Serb People's Party of Montenegro, the coalition consisted of various organizations and individuals which present themselves as protectors of the Serbs of Montenegro:

Local cooperation was also established with the Socialist Party of Yugoslavia and the Democratic Centre of Boka and the following NGOs: Matrix of Boka and Matrix of Brda.

The List advocated special ties between Montenegro and Serbia, Serbian citizenship for Serbs in Montenegro, and protection of the Serbian language and Serbian Orthodox Church (its Montenegrin branch, the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral) as the official language and church in Montenegro, respectively.

In late 2007 the Serb list representative signed The Opposition charter, uniting with the Movement for Changes, the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro, the People's Party, the Democratic Serb Party, the Bosniak Party, the Albanian Alternative and the Democratic League in Montenegro into a standing bloc to oppose a Constitutional draft proposed and attempted to be imposed by the ruling DPS-SDP coalition.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nordsieck, Wolfram, "Montenegro", Parties and Elections in Europe, retrieved 8 October 2012
  2. ↑ Slomp, Hans (2011), Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics, ABC-CLIO, p. 591
  3. ↑ "Montenegrin opposition unites". B92. 2009-01-25. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
  4. ↑ Izbori 2009
  5. ↑ "News - Montenegrin opposition unites". B92. Retrieved 2014-03-27.

External links