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Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Political alliance, Serbia and Montenegro)

Demokratska opozicije Srbije

Flag of DOS - Image by Mark Sensen, 10 June 2000

Presentation of DOS
Flag of DOS

See also:

Serbia and Montenegro

Presentation of the alliance

The Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) was the coalition led by Vojislav Kostunica, which got rid of Slobodan Milošević in October 2000 and led the country since then. Dragoljub Micunović, the DOS candidate, could not win the 2003 presidential election and was even beaten by 11% by Tomislav Nikolić, the candidate of the extreme rightist Serbian Radical Party. Since only 38% of the electors voted, the presidential election was cancelled for the third time. Therefore, the DOS was disbanded on 18 November 2003. It seems that the disbanding was mostly decided by the Democratic Party, the party founded by the former Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, murdered on 12 March 2003.
[Danas (Belgrad), as reported by Courrier International]

Ivan Sache, 5 December 2003

The DOS originally consisted of the following parties and organizations:

1. Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka)
2. Democratic Party of Serbia (Demokratska stranka Srbije)
3. Social Democracy (Socijaldemokratija)
4. Civic Alliance of Serbia (Gradjanski savez Srbije)
5. Christian Democratic Party of Serbia (Demohrišćanska stranka Srbije)
6. New Serbia (Nova Srbija)
7. Movement for a Democratic Serbia (Pokret za demokratsku Srbiju)
8. League of Socialdemocrats of Vojvodina (Liga socijaldemokrata Vojvodine)
9. Reformists of Vojvodina (Reformisti Vojvodine)
10. Vojvodina Coalition (Koalicija Vojvodina)
11. Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (Savez vojvodjanskih Madjara)
12. Democratic Alternative (Demokratska alternativa)
13. Democratic Centre (Demokratski centar)
14. New Democracy (Nova demokratija)
15. Social Democratic Union (Socijaldemokratska unija)
16. Sandžak Democratic Party (Sandžačka demokratska partija)
17. League for Šumadija (Liga za Šumadiju)
18. Serbian Resistance Movement* (Srpski pokret otpora)
19. Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions (Asocijacija slobodnih i nezavisnih sindikata)

* The Serbian Resistance Movement is the political organization of Serbs from Kosovo who opposed the Milošević regime and shall not be confused either with Resistance (Otpor) or with the Serbian Renewal Movement (Srpski pokret obnove), which both operated on the whole territory of Serbia. The Serbian Renewal Movement was also a member of the DOS for a short time, but left the coalition before the elections in 2000, which it ran on its own, so it is not listed among the members.

From 2001 to 2003, the following changes have happened:

The Democratic Party of Serbia left the government in July 2001, as a protest against extradition of Slobodan Milošević to the Hague Tribunal, and officially left the coalition in July next year.
Socialdemocracy was pushed into the opposition in May 2001 after a split in the party, as the faction which was eventually recognized by the Supreme Court as the legitimate name bearer, was not regarded as such by the DOS, which transferred all the positions held by the party members to the other faction's adherents. That faction, having not received the legal recognition, merged in July 2002 with the Social Democratic Union into the Social Democratic Party (Socijaldemokratska partija). In March 2003, after a split in this party, the Social Democratic Union was renewed, still being a member of the DOS, while the Social Democratic Party was excluded from the coalition in November 2003, after having announced that it would support the opposition's demand for voting of the confidence to the government.
In May 2003, New Serbia was excluded from the coalition after a series of conflicts with the other members.
In 2003, New Democracy was renamed into the Liberals of Serbia (Liberali Srbije), and Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions founded the Labourist Party of Serbia (Laburistička partija Srbije), to which it transferred its membership in the DOS.

Consequently, the members of the DOS before its self-dissolution were:

1. Democratic Party
2. Civic Alliance of Serbia
3. Democrat-Christian Party of Serbia
4. Movement for a Democratic Serbia
5. League of Socialdemocrats of Vojvodina
6. Reformists of Vojvodina
7. Vojvodina Coalition
8. Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians
9. Democratic Alternative
10. Democratic Centre
11. Liberals of Serbia
12. Social Democratic Union
13. Sandzak Democratic Party
14. League for Sumadija
15. Serbian Resistance Movement
16. Labourist Party of Serbia

Tomislav Todorović, 22 November 2005

Flag of the DOS

The flag of the DOS was white with the logotype and the name of the party. All the time during the existence of the DOS, all of its members kept using their flags along with the flag of the coalition.

Mark Sensen & Tomislav Todorović, 22 November 2005