TheIndependent Serbian Party (Serbian:Самостална српска странка,romanized: Samostalna Srpska Stranka,Samostalna) is a conservativepolitical party inSerbia. It was founded in February 2020 via a merger of theIndependent Democratic Party of Serbia (Samostalni DSS), the Movement for the Development of Serbia, and the National Democratic Political Council. Samostalna's leader isAndreja Mladenović, a formerparliamentarian and deputymayor ofBelgrade.
Samostalna contested the2022 Belgrade City Assembly election as part of theSerbian Progressive Party (SNS)'s coalition and won one seat in theCity Assembly of Belgrade.
The Movement for the Development of Serbia was founded by military equipment entrepreneur Mile Dragić in October 2011.[1] The party contested the2012 Serbian local elections on its own in some jurisdictions, includingPančevo and theNiš municipality ofCrveni Krst; in both of these areas, it finished well below theelectoral threshold for assembly representation.[2][3] InSremska Mitrovica, it was part of the SNS's alliance.[4]
The party mostly became inactive after 2012, although it supported theSocialist Party of Serbia (SPS)'s alliance in Sremska Mitrovica in the2016 local elections.[5]
The Samostalni DSS was established in 2015 by former members of theDemocratic Party of Serbia (DSS). In July 2015, DSS leaderSanda Rašković Ivić expelled Andreja Mladenović and six of the party's delegates in the Belgrade assembly on the grounds that they were trying to turn the party into a satellite of the SNS.[6] The expelled members originally intended for the Samostalni DSS to be a fraction within the DSS, but it soon became a distinct party.[7] Its founding convention took place in October 2015, and Mladenović was chosen as leader.[8]
Mladenović was the deputy mayor of Belgrade at the time of the Samostalni DSS's formation and remained in this role until 2018. He was also elected to Serbia's national assembly as a Samostlani DSS candidate in the2016 parliamentary election, with an endorsement from the SNS. He resigned his assembly seat in October 2016, as he could not hold adual mandate as a parliamentarian and deputy mayor of Belgrade.[9][10]
The Samostalni DSS seems to have become largely inactive as an organization by 2017, although Mladenović was re-elected to the Belgrade assembly in the2018 Belgrade City Assembly election. Formally, his endorsement was from the SNS.[11][12] He was briefly the actingmayor of Belgrade in May–June 2018 before becoming an assistant to new mayorZoran Radojičić.[13]
Samostalna was established on 19 February 2020. Andreja Mladenović was chosen as party president and Mile Dragić as vice-president. The party situated itself in the political legacy of parties such as theIndependent Radical Party and the Democratic Party of Serbia.[14]
Samostalna fielded its ownelectoral list in the Belgrade municipality ofBarajevo in the2020 Serbian local elections.[15] The party received 9.37% of the vote and won three seats.[16]
Samostalna supportedAleksandar Vučić's successful bid for re-election aspresident of Serbia in the2022 Serbian presidential election.[17]
The party received two places on the SNS's electoral list in the 2022 Belgrade election. Andreja Mladenović appeared in the eighth position and was elected when the list won a plurality victory with forty-eight out of 110 seats.[18] He resigned from the assembly on 18 August 2022 and was replaced by the party's other candidate, former DSS and Samostalni DSS delegate Dejan Čulić.[19][20][21]
