Social Democratic Party of Serbia became a full member Socialist International at the congress of this organization held in Rabat, after six years of observer status, it is written on the SDPS portal.
A unanimous decision was made at the Presidential Council of the Socialist International, making the SDP of Serbia the 77th equal member of that global organization, which gathers socialist, social democratic and progressive parties from more than 105 countries.
"The SDP of Serbia is the only political party from our country in that family of left-wing parties, led by Pedro Sánchez, the Prime Minister of Spain and the president of the Socialist International since two years ago," announced the SDP.
And further: "During the years of cooperation with the Socialist International, the SDP of Serbia distinguished itself by promoting social democratic values, advocating for social justice, human rights and sustainable development, as well as contributing to regional cooperation and dialogue, through initiatives and participation in international gatherings."
Both with Tadić and Vučić
The SDP of Serbia was founded in 2009, and its leader since then has been Rasim Ljajić.
That party entered the elections in May 2012 as part of the list "Choice for a better life - Boris Tadić", and under the slogan "Work. Investments. Security". Since that list won only 67 out of 250 parliamentary mandates, and Boris Tadić was defeated by Tomislav Nikolić in the presidential elections, the SDP of Serbia left Tadić's coalition in July 2012 and joined the winning coalition led by the Serbian Progressive Party.
Although it did not receive the most votes in those elections, the Socialist Party of Serbia in coalition with the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS) and United Serbia (JS) almost doubled the number of votes compared to the elections held four years earlier.
By winning 44 parliamentary mandates, the Socialists ensured that they would remain in power, and that they could choose with whom they would share it - whether with the DS, with which they had led Serbia until then, or if they would side with the Serbian Progressive Party, which won the elections the most votes.
In addition, Serbia was waiting for the second round of presidential elections, in which the votes of supporters of the SPS-PUPS-JS coalition decided the new president to the greatest extent.
Anthological statement by Ivica Dačić
The anthological words of SPS leader Ivica Dačić spoken on election night on May 6 will be remembered:
"Perhaps in Serbia it is not known who will be the president, but I think it is well known who will be the prime minister," Dacic said at the time.
That statement was a good indicator of the outcome of the post-election negotiations, which followed the end of the presidential elections, which practically determined the composition of the future government.
The new president of Serbia became the then leader of SNS Tomislav Nikolić, who defeated the opponent Boris Tadić by a difference of only 70.000 votes.
Nikolić's victory in the presidential elections paved the way for the formation of a new government, so negotiations between the SNS and the SPS followed.
Accepting Dacic's condition to get the position of prime minister, the new president of Serbia, who, in accordance with his pre-election promise, has since resigned from the position of party leader, entrusted the mandate to form a new government to Ivic Dacic, the former coalition partner of the Democrats.
"Standing for responsibility in public affairs"
After the extraordinary parliamentary elections in March 2014, the SDP of Serbia won 10 parliamentary seats in the Serbian Parliament under the list "Aleksandar Vučić - The Future We Believe In", and Ljajić became the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications. He continued to perform that function after the formation of the Government in 2016, and then in the reconstructed Government, after the presidential elections in 2017.
Officially, the SDP of Serbia believes that social justice is achieved by "responsibility in public affairs and concern for people" and points out that advocating for social justice "also means advocating for politics with a human face".
In practice, the SDP, in coalition with the Serbian Progressive Party and the Socialist Party of Serbia, participated in the creation of Serbia as a country of cheap labor where all possible workers' rights are violated.
Rasim Ljajić is currently the head of FC Partizan.
