Alliance of Independent Social Democrats

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Alliance of Independent Social Democrats Савез независних социјалдемократа Savez nezavisnih socijaldemokrata
Abbreviation	SNSD (СНСД)
Leader	Milorad Dodik
Founded	10 March 1996
Headquarters	Banja Luka
Membership	192,707[1]
Ideology	Serbian nationalism[2] Separatism[2] Confederalism[3] Social democracy[2] Euroscepticism[4] Russophilia[5][6]
Political position	Syncretic Fiscal: Centre-left[7] Social: Right-wing[8][9]
House of Representatives	6 / 42
House of Peoples	4 / 15
National Assembly of Republika Srpska	28 / 83
Party flag
Website
www.snsd.org
Politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina Political parties Elections

The Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (Serbian: Савез независних социјалдемократа, romanized: Savez nezavisnih socijaldemokrata; abbr. СНСД or SNSD) is a 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 chairman 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.^{[10][11][12][13]} This has also led to the party being expelled from the Socialist International in 2012 for continuing to "espouse a nationalist and extremist" line.^[14][15]

History[]

1991–96[]

The party grew out of the Independent Members of Parliament Caucus (IMPC), known as "the club", of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska (NSRS) in 1996.^[16] The club was in opposition to the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) during the Bosnian War (1992–96).^[16] 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.^{[citation needed]} The Serb members of the Parliament of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, the majority of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), including the members of the IMPC, established the Assembly of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 24 October 1991 (later renamed National Assembly of the Republika Srpska), following the majority of the parliament (mostly Croats and Bosniaks) 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 (SNSD) participated in the elections in the "Union for Peace and Progress" coalition along with the Socialist Party of RS (SPRS) and a minor party.^[16] The club and later party (SNSD) was chaired by Milorad Dodik.^[16]

1997–present[]

In the early 1997 elections it cooperated with SPRS and the Serb National Alliance (SNS) in the Sloga ("Unity") coalition.^[16] The SNS was founded by Biljana Plavšić, who had left the SDS following internal clashes.^[17] Dodik was the RS PM in 1998–2001.^[16]

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 (DSP) merged into it in 2001, the SNSD then changed its name to the "Alliance of Independent Social Democrats", keeping its old abbreviation.^[18] 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.^[14] It was later expelled on 4 September 2012.^[15]

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 due to a proposed secession of Republika Srpska.

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.^[19] 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.^[20] In 2018, representatives of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats signed a cooperation agreement with the South Ossetian ruling party United Ossetia.^[21]

Electoral results[]

National Assembly elections[]

Parliament of Republika Srpska

Year	Popular vote	% of popular vote	# of seats	Seat change	Coalition	Government
1996	125,372	11.05%	2 / 83	2	NSSM	opposition
1997	Unknown	2.41%	2 / 83		—	government
1998	53,802	7.30%	6 / 83	4	—	government
2000	81,467	13%	11 / 83	5	—	opposition
2002	111,226	21.79%	19 / 83	8	—	opposition
2006	244,251	44.95%	41 / 83	22	—	government
2010	240,727	38%	37 / 83	4	—	government
2014	213,665	32.28%	29 / 83	8	—	government
2018	218,203	31.87%	28 / 83	1	—	government

Presidential elections[]

Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Election year	#	Candidate	Votes	%	Elected?
1998	1st	Živko Radišić	359,937	51.3%	Yes
2002	2nd	Nebojša Radmanović	101,119	19.9%	No
2006	1st	Nebojša Radmanović	287,675	53.3%	Yes
2010	1st	Nebojša Radmanović	295,629	48.9%	Yes
2014	2nd	Željka Cvijanović	310,658	47.5%	No
2018	1st	Milorad Dodik	368,210	53.9%	Yes

President of Republika Srpska

Election year	#	Candidate	Votes	%	Elected?
2000	2nd	Milorad Dodik	161,942	25.7%	No
2002	2nd	Milan Jelić	112,612	22.1%	No
2006	1st	Milan Jelić	271,022	48.87%	Yes
2007	1st	Rajko Kuzmanović	169,863	41.33%	Yes
2010	1st	Milorad Dodik	319,618	50.52%	Yes
2014	1st	Milorad Dodik	303,496	45.39%	Yes
2018	1st	Željka Cvijanović	319,187	46.97%	Yes

Positions held[]

Major positions held by Alliance of Independent Social Democrats members:

References[]

Sources[]

• Stojarová, Vera; Emerson, Peter (2013). Party Politics in the Western Balkans. Routledge. pp. 12–13, 30–31, 40, 47, 88–98, 193. ISBN 978-1-135-23585-7.

External links[]

• Official website
• Youth of SNSD