Alliance of Independent Social Democrats


The Alliance of Independent Social Democrats is a left-wing nationalist Serb political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Founded in 1996, it is the governing party in Republika Srpska, with its leader, Milorad Dodik, serving as the current Serb member of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. SNSD members Željka Cvijanović and Radovan Višković are the current President of Republika Srpska and Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, respectively.
The creation of SNSD can be traced back to the Independent Members of Parliament Group, which eventually grew to become the Party of Independent Social Democrats. During this time, the party served as the only opposition to the dominance of the ultra-nationalist Serb Democratic Party, which was led by Radovan Karadžić for the majority of the 1990s. SNSD was seen as a moderate and non-extremist alternative to SDS, with many of its members, including Dodik, being part of the former non-nationalist and multi-ethnic Union of Reform Forces of Yugoslavia.
SNSD's first real electoral success was recorded in 2006, where it won 41 of the 83 seats in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, attracting 44.95% of the popular vote. Since then, the party has gradually abandoned its reformist ideology for a more aggressive advocacy of Serbian nationalism, threatening the secession of Republika Srpska from the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina numerous times. This has also led to the party being expelled from the Socialist International in 2012 for continuing to "espouse a nationalist and extremist" line.

History

1991–96

The party grew out of the Independent Members of Parliament Caucus, known as "the club", of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska in 1996. The club was in opposition to the Serb Democratic Party during the Bosnian War. The IMPC was established from the caucus of ethnic Serb members of the Parliament of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina elected in 1990 from the election list of the Union of Reform Forces. The Serb members of the Parliament of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, the majority of the Serb Democratic Party, including the members of the IMPC, established the Assembly of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 24 October 1991, following the majority of the parliament approved the "Memorandum on Sovereignty" on 15 October 1991. In 1992, the Bosnian parliament held an independence referendum which led to the declaration of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The absolute majority of the newly founded NSRS was from the SDS. The IMPC was the only parliamentary opposition from the founding of the National Assembly through the first post-war elections in September 1996. The Party of Independent Social Democrats participated in the elections in the "Union for Peace and Progress" coalition along with the Socialist Party of RS and a minor party. The club and later party was chaired by Milorad Dodik.

1997–present

In the early 1997 elections it cooperated with SPRS and the Serb National Alliance in the Sloga coalition. The SNS was founded by Biljana Plavšić, who had left the SDS following internal clashes. Dodik was the RS PM in 1998–2001.
In December 1999 the Social Liberal Party of Republika Srpska merged into the SNSD, and after local elections in 2000 Nikola Špirić's Democratic Socialist Party merged into it in 2001, the SNSD then changed its name to the "Alliance of Independent Social Democrats", keeping its old abbreviation. DSP was a splinter party of the SPRS. In August 2002 the New Labour Party of Republika Srpska merged into SNSD.
The SNSD was suspended from Socialist International in 2011 for continuing to "espouse a nationalist and extremist" line. It was later expelled on 4 September 2012.

Ideology

The party is nominally social-democratic, centre-left in the economic section, conservative in the social and cultural section, having transformed since the 1990s, and can now also be classified as nationalist and secessionist.

International cooperation

Alliance of Independent Social Democrats cooperates with several Eastern European pro-Russian parties and the ruling party in the Russian Federation, United Russia. On several occasions, representatives of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats signed cooperation agreements with representatives of United Russia. In 2016, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats joined a declaration that supported a declaration of Balkan parties that supported the idea of military neutrality in the region. In 2018, representatives of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats signed a cooperation agreement with the South Ossetian ruling party United Ossetia.

Presidents

Electoral results

National Assembly elections

Presidential elections

Election year#CandidateVotes%
2000 2ndMilorad Dodik161.94225.7%
2002 2ndMilan Jelić112.61222.1%
2006 1stMilan Jelić271.02248.87%
2007 1stRajko Kuzmanović169.86341.33%
2010 1stMilorad Dodik319.61850.52%
2014 1stMilorad Dodik303.49645.39%
2018 1stŽeljka Cvijanović319.18746.97%

Positions held

Major positions held by Alliance of Independent Social Democrats members:
Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and HerzegovinaYears
Nebojša Radmanović2006–2014
Milorad Dodik2018–
Chairman of the Council of Ministers
of Bosnia and Herzegovina		Years
Nikola Špirić2007–2012
Zoran Tegeltija2019–
President of Republika SrpskaYears
Milan Jelić2006–2007
Rajko Kuzmanović2007–2010
Milorad Dodik2010–2018
Željka Cvijanović2018–
Prime Minister of Republika SrpskaYears
Milorad Dodik1998–2001
2006–2010
Aleksandar Džombić2010–2013
Željka Cvijanović2013–2018
Radovan Višković2018–
President of Republika Srpska National AssemblyYears
Igor Radojičić2006–2014