Civic Alliance of Serbia

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Civic Alliance of Serbia
Грађански савез Србије
Građanski savez Srbije
LeaderVesna Pešić
Goran Svilanović
Nataša Mićić
FoundedJune 10, 1992 (1992-06-10)
DissolvedApril 7, 2007 (2007-04-07)
Merged intoLiberal Democratic Party
Ideology
Political positionCentre
European affiliationEuropean Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR)

The Civic Alliance of Serbia (Serbian: Грађански савез Србије, romanizedGrađanski savez Srbije; abbr. ГСС or GSS) was a liberal political party in Serbia.

History[edit]

The Civic Alliance of Serbia (GSS) was founded on 10 June 1992.[2] Initially, it was a coalition of two successor parties to Ante Marković's Yugoslavia-wide Union of Reform Forces for Serbia proper and Vojvodina, renamed the Reform Party of Serbia and League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina respectively, along with the Serbian successor to the Association for the Yugoslav Democratic Initiative renamed the Republican Club, and the People's Peasant Party.[3] In the 1992 election, the coalition was represented by Ratomir Tanić.[4] Following the election, the Republican Club led by Nebojša Popov and the Reform Party of Serbia led by Vesna Pešić merged to form the GSS party.[5]

In 1996 Žarko Korać left the GSS with a group of dissidents who opposed forming coalition with the right-wing Serbian Renewal Movement for the 1996 federal election and formed the Social Democratic Union (SDU).[6]

Notable members over the years included Goran Svilanović, former Foreign Minister of Serbia and Montenegro, Nataša Mićić, former parliamentary president and acting president of Serbia, Gašo Knezević, former Serbian Minister of Education, and Vesna Pešić, the party founder and longtime leader.

The future of the party had been in doubt ever since it split into two wings. One part promoted a merger with Democratic Party, while the other part wanted to continue political existence as an independent party. The December 2004 party congress upheld the decision to remain an independent party and elected Nataša Mićić as the new leader. The party decided to apply for membership of the ELDR and the Liberal International. At its May 2004 council, ELDR, accepted GSS as an affiliate member.

However, GSS merged into Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on April 7, 2007. The party had three representatives in the National Assembly of Serbia in 2007 elected from the list of the LDP.

Presidents of the Civic Alliance of Serbia (1992–2007)[edit]

# President Born-Died Term start Term end
1 Vesna Pešić 1940– 10 June 1992 1 August 1999
2 Goran Svilanović 1963– 1 August 1999 12 December 2004
3 Nataša Mićić 1965– 12 December 2004 7 April 2007

Electoral performance[edit]

Parliamentary elections[edit]

Year Popular vote % of popular vote # of seats Seat change Coalition Status
1992 17,276 0.37%
0 / 250
Steady with LSV-NSS no seats
1993 715,564 16.64%
2 / 250
Increase 2 DEPOS opposition
1997 Election boycott
0 / 250
Decrease 1 no seats
2000 2,402,387 64.09%
9 / 250
Increase 9 DOS government
2003 481,249 12.58%
2 / 250
Decrease 7 With DS-DC-SDU-LZS opposition
2007 214,262 5.31%
3 / 250
Increase 1 With LDP-SDU-LSV-DHSS opposition

Positions held[edit]

Major positions held by Civic Alliance of Serbia members:

President of the National Assembly of Serbia Years
Nataša Mićić 2001–2004
Mayor of Belgrade Years
Radmila Hrustanović 2001–2004

References[edit]

  1. ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2007). "Serbia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ Robert Thomas: Serbia under Milošević: politics in the 1990s, p. xviii
  3. ^ Robert Thomas: Serbia under Milošević: politics in the 1990s, pp. 111-116
  4. ^ Fischer, Jeffrey; Finn, Daniel; Carlson, Jeffrey (1997). Republic of Serbia: pre-election technical assessment. International Foundation for Electoral Systems. p. 91.
  5. ^ "The History of the Civic Alliance of Serbia". Civic Alliance of Serbia Official Website. Archived from the original on 17 December 2006. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  6. ^ Milošević, Milan (2000). Politički vodič kroz Srbiju 2000. Belgrade: Medija centar. p. 101. ISBN 86-82827-13-1. Retrieved 21 April 2019.