The Liberal Democratic Party (Serbian: Либерално демократска странка, romanized: Liberalno demokratska stranka, abbr.
LDS), known as the Liberal Party (Serbian: Либерална странка, romanized: Liberalna stranka, abbr.
A liberal party, LS was mostly ideologically focused on economic issues, favouring a free-market economy, privatisation, and agricultural development.
The party was strongly anti-communist, favouring civic democracy instead, and supported the restoration of the monarchy and the lustration of former members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia.
The Liberal Party (LS) was founded on 14 December 1989, in Valjevo by former members of the Socialist Alliance of Working People of Serbia.
[1][2][3]: 58 Its founders included Aleksandar Stefanović [sr], Predrag Vuletić, Slaven Batoćanin, and Milan Ulm.
[35] LDS was later a member of the Alliance for Change, the predecessor coalition of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) that toppled Milošević in the 2000 elections.
[39] Vuletić initially wanted to participate in the presidential election for September 2022 and he called DOS to back his candidacy up.
[40] By late August, LDS rescinded that Vuletić would take part in the election and endorsed Vojislav Koštunica of the Democratic Party of Serbia.
[44]: 55 In Valjevo, LDS contested as the Coalition for the Monarchy, which also included the NRS, People's Peasant Party, and the Ravna Gora Movement (RP), and won 265 votes.
[45] Vuletić submitted a request to the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government in November 2005 to reject LDP from being registered.
[50][51] Instead of re-registering, LDS merged with RP to create the Serbian Monarchists (SM) association on 19 January 2010.
[6]: 396 [56] Their goal was to "bring all people and nationalities together, advocate for freedoms and rights, [...] develop economic prosperity, and maintain and preserve cultural heritage" (zbližavanje naroda i narodnosti, zalaganje za slobodu i prava, [...] razvijanje ekonomskog prosperiteta, održavanje i očuvanje kulturnih znamenitosti).
[6]: 394 In March 1990, LS wanted to organise a fictional trial for Josip Broz Tito but eventually cancelled without a reason.
[58][59] In May 1990, the party wanted to rehabilitate Mihailović and to place a memorial plaque dedicated to him on Ravna Gora, but they were stopped by the police.
[6]: 396–397 In the Europa World Year Book, LS is also listed as a party that favoured a free market economy.
[60] Regarding the status of Yugoslavia, LS was opposed to its dissolution and wanted a "democratic federation" to be implemented instead of the confederal system, which was proposed by Slovenia and Croatia.
[6]: 395 Regarding Croatia, LS stated that both "[Serbs and Croats] must live in this area with the least amount of problems" ([Srbi i Hrvati] mora da žive na ovom prostoru i to sa najmanje problema).
[6]: 396 LS was opposed to autonomist principles and wanted to encourage settlement of other ethnicities in Kosovo to combat separatism.
[6]: 396 According to its programme declarations, the party also supported regionalism, the lustration of former members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, and the accession of Serbia to the European Union and NATO.
[5] LS also favoured agrarian development, wanting to ensure better conditions for those who lived in rural parts and villages.
[3]: 58 According to its website from 2003, Vesna Prodanova and Slobodan Jončić served as vice-presidents of the party, while Zoran Bojković was the president of the Belgrade chapter of LDS.
[63] LS had chapters in other Yugoslav constituent republics, except Slovenia and Macedonia, and presented its activities internationally in the Western Europe, United States, Canada, Australia.
[65] After the dissolution of LDS in 2010, their headquarters in Valjevo were legally occupied by its successor who illegally ran a café in the building that was owned by the local government.