# Serb Democratic Party (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

The Serb Democratic Party (Serbian: Српска демократска странка/Srpska demokratska stranka or СДС/SDS) is a Serb political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its current leader is Milan Miličević.
In the parliamentary elections of October 2006, the SDS lost its status as the leading party in Republika Srpska and the main Serb party in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), led by the president of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik. Despite making minor gains in the 2010 and 2014 elections, by 2018 the party had fallen to below 20% of the parliament, the lowest seat standing in its history.
The party is under sanctions from the United States for "failing to arrest and turn over war crimes suspects to an international tribunal." The sanctions prohibit any transfer of funds and material from the United States to the SDS and vice versa. The party is on the list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons by the Office of Foreign Assets Control U.S. agency.

## History
### Establishment

Radovan Karadžić founded the Serb Democratic Party in 1990. The party aimed at unifying the Bosnian Serb community, as Jovan Rašković's Serb Democratic Party did with the Serbs in Croatia, and staying part of Yugoslavia (as the "Third Yugoslavia" with Serbia and Montenegro) in the event of secession by those two republics from the federation.

### 1991

Throughout September 1991, the SDS began to establish various "Serb Autonomous Regions" throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the Bosnian parliament voted on sovereignty on 15 October 1991, a separate Serb Assembly was founded on 24 October 1991 in Banja Luka, in order to exclusively represent the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The following month, Bosnian Serbs held a referendum which resulted in an overwhelming vote in favor of staying in a federal state with Serbia and Montenegro, as part of Yugoslavia. In December 1991, a top-secret document entitled ‘For the organization and activity of organs of the Serbs people in Bosnia-Herzegovina in extraordinary circumstances’ was drawn up by the SDS leadership. This was a centralized program for the takeover of each municipality in the country, through the creation of shadow governments and para-governmental structures through various "crisis headquarters", and by preparing loyal Serbs for the takeover in co-ordination with the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA).

## Ideology

Historically, the party had a strong ultranationalist, separatist and Islamophobic ideology. Recently, the party switched from far-right and adopted more moderate conservative views, with some of those views even going in favor of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole, and not just Republika Srpska, with perhaps one of the greatest promoters of that approach is Dragan Mektić, one of the party's high-ranking officials.

## List of presidents

| No. | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Term of office |
| 1 | Radovan Karadžić (born 1945) | 12 July 1990 | 19 July 1996 |
| 2 | Aleksa Buha (born 1939) | 19 July 1996 | 1 July 1998 |
| 3 | Dragan Kalinić (born 1948) | 1 July 1998 | 20 July 2004 |
| 4 | Dragan Čavić (born 1958) | 20 July 2004 | 15 December 2006 |
| 5 | Mladen Bosić (born 1961) | 15 December 2006 | 8 October 2016 |
| 6 | Vukota Govedarica (born 1976) | 14 October 2016 | 30 June 2019 |
| 7 | Mirko Šarović (born 1956) | 30 June 2019 | 12 November 2022 |
| 8 | Milan Miličević (born 1963) | 12 November 2022 | Incumbent |

## Electoral results
### Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina :
| Year | Leader | Popular vote | % | # of seats | Government |
| 1990 | Radovan Karadžić | 590,431 | 26.14 | 72 / 240 | Coalition |
Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina :
| Year | Leader | Popular vote | % | HoR | Seat change | HoP | Seat change | Government |
| 1996 | Aleksa Buha | 578,723 | 24.11 | 9 / 42 | New | 5 / 15 | New | Coalition |
| 1998 | Dragan Kalinić | 162,721 | 9.43 | 4 / 42 | 5 | 1 / 15 | 4 | Opposition |
| 2000 | Dragan Kalinić | 248,579 | 16.68 | 6 / 42 | 2 | 1 / 15 | 0 | Opposition |
| 2002 | Dragan Kalinić | 172,544 | 14.04 | 5 / 42 | 1 | 3 / 15 | 2 | Coalition |
| 2006 | Dragan Čavić | 108,616 | 7.69 | 3 / 42 | 2 | 1 / 15 | 2 | Opposition |
| 2010 | Mladen Bosić | 137,844 | 8.40 | 4 / 42 | 1 | 1 / 15 | 0 | Coalition (2010–2013) |
| 2010 | Mladen Bosić | 137,844 | 8.40 | 4 / 42 | 1 | 1 / 15 | 0 | Opposition (2013–2014) |
| 2014 | Mladen Bosić | 211,562 | 12.97 | 5 / 42 | 1 | 2 / 15 | 1 | Coalition |
| 2018 | Vukota Govedarica | 162,414 | 9.80 | 3 / 42 | 2 | 1 / 15 | 1 | Opposition |
| 2022 | Mirko Šarović | 112,250 | 7.07 | 2 / 42 | 1 | 1 / 15 | 0 | Opposition |
* ↑ Ran in coalition with NDP, NS and SRS.

### National Assembly of Republika Srpska

National Assembly of Republika Srpska :
| Year | Leader | Popular vote | % of popular vote | # of seats | Seat change | Coalition | Government |
| 1991 | Radovan Karadžić | MPs that left the Bosnian parliament | MPs that left the Bosnian parliament | 72 / 83 | — | — | Majority |
| 1996 | Aleksa Buha | 568,980 | 52.3% | 45 / 83 | 27 | — | Majority |
| 1997 | Aleksa Buha | 209,767 | 28.9% | 24 / 83 | 21 | — | Opposition |
| 1998 | Dragan Kalinić | 160,594 | 21.7% | 19 / 83 | 5 | — | Opposition |
| 2000 | Dragan Kalinić | 226,226 | 36.1% | 31 / 83 | 12 | — | Coalition |
| 2002 | Dragan Kalinić | 159,164 | 31.2% | 26 / 83 | 5 | — | Coalition |
| 2006 | Dragan Čavić | 103,035 | 18.27% | 17 / 83 | 9 | — | Opposition |
| 2010 | Mladen Bosić | 120,136 | 18.97% | 18 / 83 | 1 | — | Opposition |
| 2014 | Mladen Bosić | 173,824 | 26.26% | 21 / 83 | 3 | With SRS RS | Opposition |
| 2018 | Vukota Govedarica | 123,515 | 18.04% | 16 / 83 | 5 | With SRS RS | Opposition |
| 2022 | Mirko Šarović | 95,648 | 14.95 % | 13 / 83 | 3 | — | Opposition |

### Presidential elections

Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina :
| Election year | # | Candidate | Votes | % | Note | Elected? |
| 1996 | 1st | Momčilo Krajišnik | 690,646 | 67.3% | — | Yes |
| 1998 | 2nd | Momčilo Krajišnik | 314,236 | 44.7% | — | No |
| 2002 | 1st | Mirko Šarović | 180,212 | 35.5% | — | Yes |
| 2006 | 2nd | Mladen Bosić | 130,824 | 24.2% | — | No |
| 2010 | 2nd | Mladen Ivanić | 285,951 | 47.31% | Support | No |
| 2014 | 1st | Mladen Ivanić | 318,196 | 48.71% | Support | Yes |
| 2018 | 2nd | Mladen Ivanić | 292,065 | 42.74% | Support | No |
| 2022 | 2nd | Mirko Šarović | 224,912 | 35.45% | — | No |
President of Republika Srpska :
| Election year | # | Candidate | Votes | % | Note | Elected? |
| 1996 | 1st | Biljana Plavšić | 636.654 | 59.2% | — | Yes |
| 1998 | 1st | Nikola Poplašen | 322,684 | 43.9% | Support | Yes |
| 2000 | 1st | Mirko Šarović | 313,572 | 49.8% | — | Yes |
| 2002 | 1st | Dragan Čavić | 183,121 | 35.9% | — | Yes |
| 2006 | 2nd | Dragan Čavić | 163,041 | 29.4% | — | No |
| 2007 | 2nd | Ognjen Tadić | 142,898 | 33.8% | — | No |
| 2010 | 2nd | Ognjen Tadić | 227,239 | 35.92% | — | No |
| 2014 | 2nd | Ognjen Tadić | 296,021 | 44.28% | — | No |
| 2018 | 2nd | Vukota Govedarica | 284,140 | 41.81% | — | No |
| 2022 | 2nd | Jelena Trivić | 273,245 | 42.84% | Support | No |

## Positions held

Major positions held by Serb Democratic Party members:
| Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina | Years |
| Momčilo Krajišnik | 1996–1998 |
| Mirko Šarović | 2002–2003 |
| Borislav Paravac | 2003–2006 |
| Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina | Years |
| Boro Bosić | 1997–1999 |
| Spasoje Tuševljak | 2000 |
| President of Republika Srpska | Years |
| Radovan Karadžić | 1992–1996 |
| Biljana Plavšić | 1996–1998 |
| Mirko Šarović | 2000–2002 |
| Dragan Čavić | 2002–2006 |
| Prime Minister of Republika Srpska | Years |
| Branko Đerić | 1992–1993 |
| Vladimir Lukić | 1993–1994 |
| Dušan Kozić | 1994–1995 |
| Rajko Kasagić | 1995–1996 |
| Gojko Kličković | 1996–1998 |
| Pero Bukejlović | 2005–2006 |
| President of Republika Srpska National Assembly | Years |
| Momčilo Krajišnik | 1992–1996 |
| Dragan Kalinić | 1996–1998 2000–2004 |
| Dušan Stojičić | 2004–2006 |