Party of Democratic Action Stranka demokratske akcije | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | SDA |
| President | Bakir Izetbegović |
| Secretary General | Halid Genjac |
| Vice Presidents | |
| Founder | Alija Izetbegović |
| Founded | 26 May 1990; 35 years ago (1990-05-26) |
| Headquarters | Mehmeda Spahe 14,Sarajevo |
| Youth wing | Youth Association SDA |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Right-wing[21] |
| European affiliation | European People's Party (observer)[22] |
| International affiliation | International Democracy Union (formerly) |
| Colours |
|
| Slogan | "Snaga naroda!" "Power of the people!" |
| Anthem | "Ja sin sam tvoj, zemljo" "I am your son, oh land" |
| HoP BiH | 2 / 15 |
| HoR BiH | 8 / 42 |
| HoP FBiH | 15 / 80 |
| HoR FBiH | 26 / 98 |
| NA RS | 1 / 83 |
| Mayors | 32 / 145 |
| Party flag | |
| Website | |
| www.sda.ba | |
TheParty of Democratic Action (Bosnian:Stranka demokratske akcije; abbr.SDA) is aBosniak nationalist andconservative political party inBosnia and Herzegovina.[23][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
The Party of Democratic Action (SDA) was founded on 26 May 1990 inSarajevo, as a "party of Muslim cultural-historic circle". It was a realisation ofAlija Izetbegović's idea of an Islamic religious and national party inBosnia and Herzegovina. Many members of theIslamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, includingimams, took part in the party's foundation. Alija, who was chosen as its chairman, tried to resolve disputes between the Muslim nationalist Islamists led byOmer Behmen and the left-wing Muslims led byAdil Zulfikarpašić.[10] The party has its roots in the oldYugoslav Muslim Organization, a conservative Muslim party in theKingdom of Yugoslavia.Yugoslav Muslim Organization was a successor of Muslimanska Narodna Organizacija (Muslim National Organization), a conservative Muslim party founded in 1906 during the Austro-Hungarian era. The Muslim National Organization was itself a successor of the conservative Muslim "Movement forwaqf and educational autonomy" (Pokret za vakufsko-mearifsku autonomiju) that goes back to 1887.
The SDA achieved considerable success in elections after thebreakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. It founded the newspaperLjiljan. The party remains the strongest political party among the Bosniak population in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In November 2000, the party was defeated by theSocial Democratic Party and other parties gathered into the "Alliance for Change", and found itself in opposition for the first time since its creation.[24][clarification needed] After the2022 general election, the SDA became once again the largest party in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The party has branches inSlovenia,Kosovo,North Macedonia,Croatia and theSandžak region ofSerbia. One of the goals of the party, outside Bosnia and Herzegovina, is to represent and defend the interests of Bosniaks and other MuslimSouth Slavs in the entireBalkan region. InMontenegro, the SDA merged with smaller Bosniak and Slavic Muslim parties to create theBosniak Party.
The party is an observer member of theEuropean People's Party (EPP).
The Party of Democratic Action is the primary stronghold for right-orientatedBosniaks, especially fornationalists, andconservatives. The party has been also described assecularist by some researchers.[25][26]Islamist ideologies exist in the party but tends to represent itself mainly among the elite apparatus of the party.[27][28] The party supports the centralization of the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[29] On foreign stances they also tend to beatlanticist and supportive of the accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina toNATO and theEuropean Union.[28][19]
| Name | Term of Office | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alija Izetbegović | 1990–2001 |
| 2 | Sulejman Tihić | 2001–2014 |
| 3 | Bakir Izetbegović | 2014–present |
| Year | Leader | # | Popular vote | % | Seats won | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Alija Izetbegović | 1st | 711,075 | 31.48 | 86 / 240 | Coalition |
| Year | Leader | # | Popular vote | % | HoR | Seat change | HoP | Seat change | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Alija Izetbegović | 1st | 909,970 | 37.92 | 19 / 42 | New | 5 / 15 | New | Coalition |
| 1998[a] | 1st | 583,895 | 33.83 | 13 / 42 | 3 / 15 | Coalition | |||
| 2000 | 1st | 279,548 | 18.76 | 8 / 42 | 2 / 15 | Opposition | |||
| 2002 | Sulejman Tihić | 1st | 269,427 | 21.92 | 10 / 42 | 4 / 15 | Coalition | ||
| 2006 | 2nd | 238,475 | 16.89 | 9 / 42 | 3 / 15 | Coalition | |||
| 2010 | 3rd | 214,300 | 13.05 | 7 / 42 | 3 / 15 | Coalition(2010–2012) | |||
| Opposition(2012–2014) | |||||||||
| 2014 | Bakir Izetbegović | 1st | 305,715 | 18.73 | 10 / 42 | 3 / 15 | Coalition | ||
| 2018 | 1st | 281,754 | 17.01 | 9 / 42 | 3 / 15 | Coalition | |||
| 2022 | 1st | 273,545 | 17.23 | 9 / 42 | 2 / 15 | Opposition |

| Year | Leader | # | Popular vote | % | HoR | Seat change | HoP | Seat change | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Alija Izetbegović | 1st | 725,810 | 54.34 | 78 / 140 | New | 27 / 65 | New | Coalition |
| 1998[a] | 1st | 456,458 | 49.20 | 68 / 140 | 26 / 72 | Coalition | |||
| 2000 | 1st | 232,674 | 26.81 | 38 / 140 | 11 / 81 | Opposition | |||
| 2002 | Sulejman Tihić | 1st | 234,923 | 33.57 | 32 / 98 | 11 / 58 | Coalition | ||
| 2006 | 1st | 218,365 | 25.45 | 28 / 98 | 9 / 58 | Coalition | |||
| 2010 | 2nd | 206,926 | 20.22 | 23 / 98 | 9 / 58 | Coalition | |||
| 2014 | Bakir Izetbegović | 1st | 275,728 | 27.79 | 29 / 98 | 10 / 58 | Coalition | ||
| 2018 | 1st | 252,817 | 25.25 | 27 / 98 | 9 / 58 | Coalition | |||
| 2022 | 1st | 238,111 | 24.40 | 26 / 98 | 13 / 80 | Opposition |

| Election year | # | Candidate | Votes | % | Representing | Elected? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 1st | Alija Izetbegović | 730,592 | 80.0% | Bosniaks | Yes |
| 1998[a] | 1st | Alija Izetbegović | 511,541 | 86.8% | Bosniaks | Yes |
| 2002 | 1st | Sulejman Tihić | 192,661 | 37.2% | Bosniaks | Yes |
| 2006 | 2nd | Sulejman Tihić | 153,683 | 27.5% | Bosniaks | No |
| 2010 | 1st | Bakir Izetbegović | 162,831 | 34.8% | Bosniaks | Yes |
| 2014 | 1st | Bakir Izetbegović | 247,235 | 32.8% | Bosniaks | Yes |
| 2018 | 1st | Šefik Džaferović | 212,581 | 36.6% | Bosniaks | Yes |
| 2022 | 2nd | Bakir Izetbegović | 214,412 | 37.3% | Bosniaks | No |
| Cantonal election | Cantonal Assembly | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Una-Sana | Posavina | Tuzla | Zenica-Doboj | Bosnian Podrinje Goražde | Central Bosnia | Herzegovina-Neretva | West Herzegovina | Sarajevo | Canton 10 | Total won / Total contested | ||||
| 1996 | 39 / 50 | 3 / 20 | 33 / 50 | 40 / 59 | 26 / 31 | 29 / 55 | 19 / 50 | 0 / 31 | 28 / 45 | 2 / 15 | 219 / 406 | |||
| 1998 | 33 / 50 | 5 / 30 | 26 / 50 | 29 / 50 | 21 / 31 | 22 / 50 | 18 / 50 | 0 / 31 | 25 / 45 | 4 / 30 | 183 / 417 | |||
| 2000 | 13 / 30 | 2 / 19 | 12 / 35 | 13 / 35 | 8 / 25 | 8 / 28 | 5 / 28 | 0 / 21 | 8 / 35 | 2 / 23 | 71 / 279 | |||
| 2002 | 14 / 30 | 2 / 21 | 16 / 35 | 20 / 35 | 12 / 25 | 10 / 30 | 7 / 30 | 0 / 23 | 15 / 35 | 2 / 25 | 98 / 289 | |||
| 2006 | 12 / 30 | 2 / 21 | 12 / 35 | 13 / 35 | 9 / 25 | 8 / 30 | 6 / 30 | 0 / 23 | 10 / 35 | 2 / 25 | 74 / 289 | |||
| 2010 | 7 / 30 | 2 / 21 | 10 / 35 | 10 / 35 | 6 / 25 | 6 / 30 | 5 / 30 | 0 / 23 | 7 / 35 | 2 / 25 | 55 / 289 | |||
| 2014 | 10 / 30 | 3 / 21 | 13 / 35 | 11 / 35 | 6 / 25 | 8 / 30 | 7 / 30 | 0 / 23 | 10 / 35 | 2 / 25 | 70 / 289 | |||
| 2018 | 9 / 30 | 2 / 21 | 9 / 35 | 11 / 35 | 5 / 25 | 10 / 30 | 8 / 30 | 0 / 23 | 10 / 35 | 2 / 25 | 66 / 289 | |||
| 2022 | 8 / 30 | 3 / 21 | 13 / 35 | 11 / 35 | 5 / 25 | 11 / 30 | 7 / 30 | 0 / 23 | 7 / 35 | 2 / 25 | 67 / 289 | |||