Democratic Opposition of Serbia
| Democratic Opposition of Serbia Демократска oпозиција Cрбије Demokratska opozicija Srbije |
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| Leader | 18 leaders of member parties |
| Founded | January 10, 2000 |
| Dissolved | November 18, 2003 |
| Seats won at the 2000 parliamentary election |
176 / 250
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| Politics of Serbia Political parties Elections |
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The Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Serbian: Демократска oпозиција Cрбије, ДОС; Demokratska opozicija Srbije, DOS) was a wide alliance of political parties in Serbia (then part of FR Yugoslavia), formed as a coalition against the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia and its leader, Slobodan Milošević in 2000. Its candidate, Vojislav Koštunica, won the September 2000 federal presidential election and the coalition won the parliamentary majority in the Serbian Parliament at the December 2000 election. The coalition then formed the government with Zoran Đinđić as the Prime Minister which ruled Serbia until December 2003.
DOS was originally an 18-party coalition, including:[1]
- Democratic Party (DS)
- Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS)
- Civic Alliance of Serbia (GSS)
- Demo-Christian Party of Serbia (DHSS)
- New Serbia (NS)
- Social Democratic League of Vojvodina (LSV)
- Socialdemocratic Union (SDU)
- Alliance of Hungarians from Vojvodina (SVM)
- Reformist Democratic Party of Vojvodina (RDSV)
- Vojvodina Coalition (KV)
- Social democracy (SD)
- Sandžak Democratic Party (SDP)
- 3-party DAN coalition:
- Democratic Alternative (DA)
- New Democracy (ND)
- Democratic Center (DC)
- Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions (not a political organization)
Koštunica's Democratic Party of Serbia left the government in July 2001, as the protest against extradition of Slobodan Milošević to the ICTY, and officially left the coalition in July next year. Social democracy was pushed into the opposition in May 2001 after a split in the party, as the faction which was eventually recognized by the Supreme Court of Serbia as the legitimate name bearer, was not regarded as such by the DOS, which transferred all the positions held by the party members to the other faction's adherents. That faction, having not received the legal recognition, had merged in July 2002 with the Socialdemocratic Union into the Social Democratic Party. In March 2003, after a split in this party, the Socialdemocratic Union was renewed, still being a member of the DOS, while the Social Democratic Party was excluded from the coalition in November 2003, after having announced that it would support the opposition's demand for government's depose. In May 2003, New Serbia was excluded from the coalition after a series of conflicts with the other members. In 2003, New Democracy was renamed into the Liberals of Serbia, and the Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions has founded the Labour Party of Serbia, to which it transferred its membership in the DOS.[1]
Dragoljub Mićunović, the DOS candidate, could not win the 2003 presidential election and was even beaten by 11% by Tomislav Nikolić, the candidate of the extreme rightist Serbian Radical Party. Since only 38% of the electors voted, the presidential election was cancelled for the third time in a row. Therefore, the DOS was disbanded on 18 November 2003. The disbanding was mostly decided by the Democratic Party, the party founded by the then Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, who was assassinated on 12 March 2003.[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Flags of the World: Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Political alliance, Serbia and Montenegro), Tomislav Todorović, 22 November 2005
[edit] External links
- Vreme: Demokratska opozicija Srbije - Program za demokratsku Srbiju, No. 502, 19 August 2000 (Retrieved on 6 October 2010) (Serbian)
