G17 Plus

G17 Plus was a centre-right^[7] political party in Serbia. Founded as a non-governmental organization dealing with economic issues, in 2002 it transformed into a political party that became part of several ruling coalition governments in Serbia throughout the 2000s and early 2010s. In 2013, it merged into United Regions of Serbia.

G17 Plus Г17 плус
President	Miroljub Labus (2002–2006) Mlađan Dinkić (2006–2013)
Founder	Miroljub Labus
Founded	15 December 2002 (2002-12-15)
Dissolved	21 April 2013 (2013-04-21)
Merged into	United Regions of Serbia
Headquarters	Trg Republike 5, Belgrade
Ideology	Liberal conservatism[1][2] Liberalism[3][4][5] Neoliberalism[6] Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre-right
European affiliation	European People's Party[6]
Colours	Blue and Grey
Website
g17plus.rs (archived)
Politics of Serbia Political parties Elections

Foundation

G17 Plus was founded in 1997 as a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Serbia, then a federal unit within FR Yugoslavia. The organization consisting of economic experts enjoyed financial support of the United States through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).^[8]

The organization was registered as a political party on 15 December 2002, with Miroljub Labus as its first president.

At its first electoral showing at the 2003 parliamentary elections, G17 Plus received 11.5% of the popular vote and 34 seats in the National Assembly.

In March 2004, G17+ formed a coalition government with the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) and New Serbia (NS). In May 2006 Miroljub Labus resigned as party leader and was replaced by Mlađan Dinkić. On October 1, 2006, the party quit the governing coalition over its failure to find and extradite ICTY fugitive Ratko Mladić.

In the 2007 elections, the party received 6.82% of the popular vote and 19 seats in the parliament.

G17+ received a single seat in the Community Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija.^[9]

In 2010, G17 Plus founded the United Regions of Serbia (URS), a coalition of political parties and groups emphasizing decentralization and regional development of Serbia.^[10] After a few years functioning as the centerpiece of the coalition, in April 2013 G17 Plus fully merged with URS, transforming it into a political party.

In the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, G17+ was associated with the European People's Party.^[11]

Presidents of the G17 Plus (2002–2013)

#	President		Born–Died	Term start	Term end
1	Miroljub Labus		1947–	15 December 2002	16 May 2006
2	Mlađan Dinkić		1964–	16 May 2006	21 April 2013

Electoral results

National Assembly of Serbia

Election	# of votes	% of vote	# of seats	+/-	Coalition	Status
2003	438,422	11.46%	31 / 250	31	with SDP	government 2004–06
						opposition 2006–07
2007	275,041	6.82%	19 / 250	12	—	government
2008	1,590,200	38.42%	24 / 250	5	ZES	government
2012	215,666	5.51%	10 / 250	14	URS	government 2012–13
						opposition 2013–14

Presidential elections

President of Serbia

Election year	#	Candidate	1st round votes	%	2nd round votes	%	Notes
2002	2nd	Miroljub Labus	995,200	27.96	1,516,693	31.62	Election declared invalid due to low turnout
2003	Election boycott
2004	4th	Dragan Maršićanin	414,971	13.31	—	—	Government Coalition
2008	1st	Boris Tadić	1,457,030	35.39	2,304,467	50.31	For a European Serbia
2012	5th	Zoran Stanković	257,054	6.58%	—	—	United Regions of Serbia

Positions held

Major positions held by G17 Plus members:

President of the National Assembly of Serbia	Years
Predrag Marković	2004–2006
Governor of the National Bank of Yugoslavia / Serbia	Years
Mlađan Dinkić	2000–2003

References

1. Elisabeth Bakke (2010). "Central and East European party systems since 1989". Central and Southeast European Politics since 1989. Cambridge University Press. pp. 78, 80. ISBN 978-1-139-48750-4.
2. "Serbia to head for early elections". EUobserver. 10 March 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
3. "Liberal Party To Pull Out Of Serbian Coalition". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 2 February 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
4. "Serb minister to quit unless Mladic is handed over". The Irish Times. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
5. Puddington, Arch (2011). Freedom in the world 2011 : the annual survey of political rights & civil liberties. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 585. ISBN 978-1-4422-0996-1. OCLC 793082219.
6. Orlović, Slaviša; Antonić, Slobodan; Vukomanović, Dijana; Stojiljković, Zoran; Vujačić, Ilija; Đurković, Miša; Mihailović, Srećko; Gligorov, Vladimir; Komšić, Jovan; Pajvančić, Marijana; Pantić, Dragomir (2007). Ideologija i političke stranke u Srbiji [Ideology and Political Parties in Serbia] (PDF) (in Serbian). Belgrade: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Faculty of Political Sciences, Institute for Humanities. ISBN 978-86-83767-23-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 November 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2001.
7. Stojiljković, Zoran (2011). "Serbia in the Party Labyrinth" (PDF). Institute for Political Studies. 3 (1): 96.
8. "Hearing of the Commission on Security & Cooperation in Europe". National Endowment for Democracy. 10 December 1998. Archived from the original on 30 March 2006. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
9. "Kosovo Serbs convene parliament; Pristina, international authorities object". Southeast European Times. 30 June 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2008.
10. Osnovani Ujedinjeni regioni Srbije Archived 2012-03-06 at the Wayback Machine (in Serbian)
11. "Mr Željko IVANJI (Serbia, EPP/CD)". Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Retrieved 29 July 2023.

External links

• Official website