Social Democratic Party (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

For the historical political party, see Social Democratic Party of Bosnia–Herzegovina (1909).

The Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian: Socijaldemokratska partija Bosne i Hercegovine (SDP BiH) / Социјалдемократска партија Босне и Херцеговине), also simply known as the Social Democratic Party (Socijaldemokratska partija (SDP) / Социјалдемократска партија) is a social-democratic political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[1]

Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina Socijaldemokratska partija Bosne i Hercegovine Социјалдемократска партија Боснe и Херцеговинe
President	Nermin Nikšić
General Secretary	Elvir Karajbić
Vice Presidents	See list Denis Bećirović Benjamina Karić Zukan Helez Vojin Mijatović Lana Prlić Ivan Boban
Founder	Nijaz Duraković
Founded	27 December 1992
Preceded by	SK BiH
Headquarters	Alipašina 41, Sarajevo
Youth wing	Forum Mladih SDP
Membership	43,000
Ideology	Social democracy[1] Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre-left[2][3]
National affiliation	Troika
European affiliation	Party of European Socialists (associate)
International affiliation	Socialist International Progressive Alliance
HoR BiH	5 / 42
HoP BiH	0 / 15
HoR FBiH	15 / 98
HoP FBiH	13 / 80
NA RS	3 / 83
Website
www.sdp.ba
Politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina Political parties Elections

It is officially multi-ethnic, although it lost most of its former support among Croat and Serb voters in the decade following the 2000 parliamentary election, when it began to lean more towards Bosnian populism,^[4] and now gathers most of its support from Bosniaks.^[5][6][7]

History

Origin

Former party logo

The SDP BiH has its roots in the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, founded in 1909. The party was founded by workers to defend and represent their rights and interests, and consisted of members of all ethnic groups. On 20 April 1920, the Social Democratic Party became part of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia.^[8]

The SDP BiH was reestablished on 27 December 1992. The party was enlarged by the inclusion of the Social Democrats of BiH party to the original SDP.

Timeline

In the first post-war election in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996, the SDP BiH appeared in a coalition with five other parties within the Joint List. Candidates for the Bosniak and Croat members of the Presidency, Sead Avdić and Ivo Komšić, were not elected.

On 6 April 1997, Zlatko Lagumdžija was elected as the SDP BiH's new president. In the 2000 parliamentary election, the SDP BiH won the most seats in the House of Representatives. On 22 February 2001, Božidar Matić was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers.

In the 2006 general election, Željko Komšić was elected Croat member of the Presidency. He was re-elected in the 2010 general election.

On 7 December 2014, Nermin Nikšić was elected president of the party, succeeding Lagumdžija.^[9] On the eve of the 2020 municipal elections, the SDP BiH entered into a four-party liberal coalition alongside the parties People and Justice (NiP), Our Party (NS) and the Independent Bosnian-Herzegovinian List, colloquially known as the Four.

The coalition, also supported by the Union for a Better Future and the People's European Union, announced Denis Bećirović's candidacy in the Bosnian general election on 21 May 2022, running for Presidency member and representing the Bosniaks.^[10] In the general election, held on 2 October 2022, Bećirović was elected to the Presidency, having obtained 57.37% of the vote.^[11] Following the election, the SDP BiH reached an agreement on the formation of a new government supported by the coalition of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, the Croatian Democratic Union, NiP, NS and the Democratic People's Alliance.^[12]

Ideology

The Social Democratic Party is a centre-left democratic party. The program vision corresponds to values and ideas of social democracy in Europe and the world. The SDP BiH is a civic party that is particularly interested in improving the social status of workers, rural population, students, youth, veterans, women, pensioners and citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the diaspora.

List of presidents

#	Name (Born–Died)	Portrait	Term of Office		Days
1	Nijaz Duraković (1949–2012)		27 December 1992	6 April 1997	4 years, 100 days
2	Zlatko Lagumdžija (b. 1955)		6 April 1997	7 December 2014	17 years, 245 days
3	Nermin Nikšić (b. 1960)		7 December 2014	present	9 years, 340 days

Elections

Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Year	Leader	#	Popular vote	%	HoR	Seat change	HoP	Seat change	Government
1996[a]	Nijaz Duraković	4th	136,203	5.68	2 / 42	New	0 / 15	New	Opposition
1998	Zlatko Lagumdžija	5th	159,876	9.26	4 / 42	2	1 / 15	1	Opposition
2000		1st	268,270	18.00	9 / 42	5	3 / 15	2	Coalition
2002		4th	128,212	10.43	4 / 42	5	1 / 15	2	Opposition
2006		4th	143,272	10.15	5 / 42	1	1 / 15	0	Opposition
2010		1st	284,435	17.33	8 / 42	3	4 / 15	3	Coalition
2014		7th	108,501	6.65	3 / 42	5	0 / 15	4	Opposition
2018	Nermin Nikšić	4th	150,453	9.08	5 / 42	2	1 / 15	1	Opposition
2022		4th	129,499	8.15	5 / 42	0	0 / 15	1	Coalition

Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Year	Leader	#	Popular vote	%	HoR	Seat change	HoP	Seat change	Government
1996[a]	Nijaz Duraković	3rd	105,897	7.93	11 / 140	New	4 / 65	New	Opposition
1998	Zlatko Lagumdžija	3rd	126,635	13.65	19 / 140	8	10 / 72	6	Opposition
2000		2nd	226,440	26.09	37 / 140	18	37 / 81	27	Coalition
2002		3rd	111,668	15.96	15 / 98	22	9 / 58	28	Opposition
2006		3rd	130,204	15.17	17 / 98	2	12 / 58	3	Opposition
2010		1st	251,053	24.53	28 / 98	11	21 / 58	9	Coalition
2014		5th	100,626	10.14	12 / 98	16	10 / 58	11	Opposition
2018	Nermin Nikšić	2nd	145,458	14.53	16 / 98	4	12 / 58	2	Opposition
2022		2nd	131,323	13.46	15 / 98	1	15 / 80	3	Coalition

Presidency elections

Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Election year	#	Candidate	Votes	%	Representing	Note	Elected?
1996[a]	2nd	Ivo Komšić[b]	37,684	10.1%	Croats	Support	No
	4th	Sead Avdić	21,254	2.3%	Bosniaks	—	No
1998	2nd	Gradimir Gojer	113,961	31.8%	Croats	—	No
2002	3rd	Alija Behmen	90,434	17.5%	Bosniaks	—	No
	7th	Mladen Grahovac	22,852	4.5%	Serbs	—	No
2006	1st	Željko Komšić	116,062	40.0%	Croats	—	Yes
	4th	Jugoslav Jovičić	22,245	4.1%	Serbs	—	No
2010	1st	Željko Komšić	337,065	60.6%	Croats	—	Yes
2014	4th	Bakir Hadžiomerović	75,369	10.0%	Bosniaks	—	No
2018	2nd	Denis Bećirović	194,688	33.5%	Bosniaks	—	No
2022	1st	Denis Bećirović	330,238	57.37%	Bosniaks	—	Yes
	3rd	Vojin Mijatović	38,655	6.1%	Serbs	—	No

Cantonal elections

Cantonal election	Cantonal Assembly
	Una-Sana	Posavina	Tuzla	Zenica-Doboj	Bosnian Podrinje Goražde	Central Bosnia	Herzegovina-Neretva	West Herzegovina	Sarajevo	Canton 10	Total won / Total contested
1996	1 / 50	0 / 20	9 / 50	4 / 59	1 / 31	2 / 55	1 / 50	0 / 31	8 / 45	0 / 15	26 / 406
1998	3 / 50	1 / 30	10 / 50	11 / 50	5 / 31	5 / 50	3 / 50	0 / 31	11 / 45	1 / 30	50 / 417
2000	6 / 30	4 / 19	16 / 35	11 / 35	8 / 25	6 / 28	4 / 28	0 / 21	14 / 35	1 / 23	70 / 279
2002	4 / 30	3 / 21	11 / 35	6 / 35	5 / 25	3 / 30	3 / 30	0 / 23	10 / 35	1 / 25	46 / 289
2006	6 / 30	2 / 21	11 / 35	5 / 35	6 / 25	3 / 30	2 / 30	0 / 23	7 / 35	1 / 25	43 / 289
2010	8 / 30	1 / 21	13 / 35	10 / 35	7 / 25	6 / 30	5 / 30	0 / 23	10 / 35	1 / 25	61 / 289
2014	4 / 30	1 / 21	6 / 35	4 / 35	2 / 25	4 / 30	3 / 30	0 / 23	4 / 35	1 / 25	29 / 289
2018	4 / 30	1 / 21	10 / 35	6 / 35	2 / 25	5 / 30	3 / 30	0 / 23	4 / 35	1 / 25	36 / 289
2022	3 / 30	1 / 21	8 / 35	5 / 35	2 / 25	4 / 30	3 / 30	0 / 23	6 / 35	2 / 25	34 / 289

Notes

1. Run as part of the Joint List.
2. Member of the HSS.

References

1. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2018). "Bosnia-Herzegovina". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
2. Nardelli, Alberto; Dzidic, Denis; Jukic, Elvira (8 October 2014). "Bosnia and Herzegovina: the world's most complicated system of government?". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
3. SDP statute (page 2.)
4. "Key political parties and profiles of the main political parties running in the 2018 general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina". balkaninsight.com. BIRN. 24 September 2018.
5. Woehrel, Steven (24 January 2013). "Bosnia and Herzegovina: Current Issues and U.S. Policy" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
6. Farrand, Robert William (2011), Reconstruction and Peace Building in the Balkans: The Brčko Experience, Rowman & Littlefield, p. 62
7. Bideleux, Robert; Jeffries, Ian (2007), The Balkans: A Post-Communist History, Routledge, pp. 376–377
8. "Historija SDP BiH". SDP BiH (in Bosnian). Retrieved 24 June 2022.
9. E. Gorinjac (7 December 2014). "Nermin Nikšić je novi predsjednik SDP-a" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
10. G.M. (21 May 2022). "Denis Bećirović zvanično kandidat opozicije za člana Predsjedništva BiH" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
11. D.Be. (23 October 2022). "Bećirović dobio 116 hiljada glasova više od Izetbegovića, a Cvijanović sama više od svojih protukandidata skupa" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
12. N.V. (25 January 2023). "BiH dobila novo Vijeće ministara, državnu vlast sada čini SNSD, HDZ, SDP, NiP, NS, DNS..." (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 25 January 2023.

Sources

• SDP sada broji 40.000 članova, svakog mjeseca broj se poveća za 464 člana at sdp.ba

External links

• Official website