Serb Democratic Party (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
The Serb Democratic Party is a Serb political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is current leader is Mirko Šarović.
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, led by the Prime Minister 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 Serb Democratic 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 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 favour of staying in a federal state with Serbia and Montenegro, as part of Yugoslavia. In December 1991, a top secret document entitled ‘For the organisation and activity of organs of the Serbs people in Bosnia-Herzegovina in extraordinary circumstances’ was drawn up by the SDS leadership. This was a centralised programme 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.Ideology
Historically, the party had strong Serbian nationalist, separatist and Islamophobic ideology. Recently, the party switched from far-right and adopted more modest right-wing national-conservative views.Presidents of the Serb Democratic Party
Electoral results
Parliamentary elections
Presidential elections
Positions held
Major positions held by Serb Democratic Party members:| President of Republika Srpska | Years |
| Radovan Karadžić | 1992–1996 |
| Biljana Plavšić | 1996–1998 |
| Mirko Šarović | 2000–2002 |
| Dragan Čavić | 2002–2006 |
| President of Republika Srpska National Assembly | Years |
| Momčilo Krajišnik | 1992–1996 |
| Dragan Kalinić | 1996–1998 2000–2004 |
| Dušan Stojičić | 2004–2006 |
| 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 |
| Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina | Years |
| Momčilo Krajišnik | 1996–1998 |
| Mirko Šarović | 2002–2003 |
| Borislav Paravac | 2003–2006 |