Formation After the
World War II, the
Communist Party consolidated power in
Yugoslavia. Each constituent republic had its own branch of the party, with
Serbia having the
Communist Party of Serbia, which was renamed to League of Communists of Serbia (SKS) in 1952. SKS elected
Slobodan Milošević as its president in 1986, after an endorsement coming from then-incumbent president of SKS,
Ivan Stambolić. Milošević came to power by promising to reduce the autonomy of provinces of
Kosovo and
Vojvodina. At a
congress that was held in January 1990, rifts between SKS and
League of Communists of Slovenia occurred which ultimately led to the dissolution of the federal Communist Party. This also led to the establishment of
multi-party systems in the constituent republics. Milošević organised a congress on 17 July 1990, during which its delegates voted in favour of merging SKS and the
Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia (SSRNJ) to create the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). Milošević was elected as the party's president. According to political scientist
Jerzy Wiatr, the merger "did not substantially change either the organisational structure of the party or its administration", although SPS did gain control of a large amount of infrastructure, including material and financial assets. Milošević as president of the SPS was able to wield considerable power and influence in the government and the public and private sectors, while members of SPS who had shown their independence from loyalty towards Milošević were expelled from the party.
1990–1992: Early years SPS took part in the
general elections which was organised for December 1990. The parliamentary election was conducted in a
first-past-the-post system, where members were elected in 250 single-member constituency seats; this system strengthened the position of SPS. This resulted into SPS winning 194 out of 250 seats in the
National Assembly, despite only winning 48% of the popular vote. Opposition parties, such as the
Democratic Party (DS) and
Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), tried to challenge the legitimacy of the election, citing alleged abuse of postal voting and manipulation during vote counting. By January 1991, sociologist
Laslo Sekelj reported that SPS had 500,000 members. SPS was faced with
protests in March 1991, while Milošević was succeeded by
Borisav Jović as the president of SPS on 24 May 1991; he held the position until 24 October 1992, when Milošević returned as president of SPS, following the second party congress. With the opposition boycotting the
May 1992 parliamentary election, due to claiming that there were no free and fair electoral conditions, Protests were held shortly after the election, after which
snap elections were called for December 1992, in which SPS won 33% of the popular vote. In the presidential election however, Milošević won 57% of the popular vote in the first round, while his opponent
Milan Panić won 35% of the popular vote.
1993–2000: Leading government party After the announcement that SPS would abandon its hardline position regarding the
Bosnian War and
Croatian War of Independence in favour of a compromise and after a dispute regarding the rebalancing of the federal budget in July 1993, the coalition between SPS and SRS was disintegrated. In the parliamentary election, SPS won 123 seats, though still short 3 seats of a majority, Milošević then persuaded the
New Democracy (ND), which as part of the SPO-led
Democratic Movement of Serbia coalition won 5 seats, to enter a coalition government with SPS. ND accepted this and the new government headed by
Mirko Marjanović was sworn in March 1994. to contest the
parliamentary elections for the federal parliament in November 1996. SPS was accused of falsifying votes in cities such as Belgrade and
Niš in the
1996 local elections. The Electoral Commission also invalidated the results. Milošević, who was constitutionally limited to two terms as president of Serbia, was elected president of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in July 1997, shortly before the
general elections in Serbia. SPS took part with ND and JUL under the Left Coalition banner and won 110 seats in the National Assembly. ND declined to join the government and the coalition was subsequently disintegrated after SPS and JUL formed a government with SRS. In the presidential election, SPS nominated
Zoran Lilić, although the election ended up being annulled as the election's turnout was less than 50%.
Vuk Drašković, the leader of SPO, supported the proposed
Rambouillet Agreement, though Milošević declined to sign it, which ultimately led to the
NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Additionally, SPS and SPO entered into a conflict after the assassination of journalist
Slavko Ćuruvija, which led to dismissal of SPO from the federal government. Milošević accepted defeat on 5 October 2000, while the Federal Election Committee published actual results on 7 October. Shortly after the elections, SPS, SPO, and DOS agreed to organise a snap
parliamentary election in Serbia in December 2000. Following the 2000 elections,
Milorad Vučelić formed the
Democratic Socialist Party while
Zoran Lilić also left and formed the
Serbian Social Democratic Party.
2001–2008: Opposition and support for Koštunica's government Milošević, who was still the president of SPS, was arrested in March 2001 on suspicion of corruption and abuse of power, and was shortly after extradited to the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to stand trial for war crimes instead. At the
presidential election in September 2002, SPS nominated actor
Bata Živojinović; he placed sixth. This election ended up being annulled as the turnout in the second round was less than 50%. SPS supported
Vojislav Šešelj, the leader of SRS. At a party congress in January 2003,
Ivica Dačić, a reformist within SPS, was elected president of the party's main board. It was reported that Milošević subsequently demanded his exclusion of the party, although Dačić denied this. Another
presidential election was held in November 2003 which SPS ended up boycotting. A month later, SPS took part in a snap
parliamentary election in which it won 22 seats; the drop in popularity occurred due to their voters shifting towards SRS. SPS ended up serving as
confidence and supply to Koštunica's government in the National Assembly. After the
death of Milošević in March 2006, a conflict between Dačić and Vučelić emerged regarding who would continue leading the party. At the party congress in December 2006, Dačić was officially elected president of SPS, after previously serving as the party's de facto leader since 2003. In the
parliamentary election that was held in January 2007, SPS dropped to 16 seats in the National Assembly, after which SPS returned to opposition. A year later, SPS nominated
Milutin Mrkonjić, the party's deputy president, as its candidate in the
presidential election. Mrkonjić campaigned on social issues and issues regarding the economy, insisting that SPS is "the true party of the left" and that Serbia should join the
European Union. SPS shortly after formed a coalition with
United Serbia (JS) and
Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS) which took part in the snap
parliamentary election in May 2008. The coalition won 20 seats, 12 of which went to SPS alone. Initially, SPS negotiated with SRS,
Democratic Party of Serbia, and
New Serbia to form a government, however SPS ended up abandoning those negotiations in favour of those with the
For a European Serbia coalition, which was led by DS. Additionally, SPS signed a reconciliation agreement with its government partner DS, although clashes between the parties had continued to occur even after the agreement. Further, protests that were organised in 2011 led
Boris Tadić, the
president of Serbia, to call snap elections for 2012. During the 2012 campaign period, SPS campaigned with JS and PUPS, with Dačić being their joint presidential candidate. Dačić placed third in the
presidential election, winning 15% of the popular vote. This resulted into Dačić becoming the prime minister of Serbia in July 2012. As prime minister, Dačić worked on normalisation between Serbia and
Kosovo, which was formalised under the
Brussels Agreement in April 2013. His government was re-shuffled on his order in September 2013, after which SPS and SNS continued to govern alone without the
United Regions of Serbia. However, president Nikolić called for snap
parliamentary elections to be held in March 2014. SPS took part in the election with JS and PUPS and campaigned on the protection of workers, peasants, and pensioners. They won 44 seats in the National Assembly, while their coalition partner, SNS, won 158 seats in total.
2015–present: Minority partner Throughout of 2015, it was discussed whether a snap parliamentary election would occur. This was confirmed in January 2016, when a
parliamentary election was announced to be held in April 2016. Following the announcement, PUPS left the SPS–JS coalition and joined the one that was led by SNS, while SPS and JS formalised a coalition with the
Greens of Serbia (Zeleni). The SPS-led ballot list also included
Joška Broz, the leader of the
Communist Party and the grandson of
Josip Broz Tito. This coalition won 29 seats in the National Assembly, 21 out of which were occupied by SPS. Following the election, SPS agreed to again serve as a junior member in the SNS-led coalition government, which was inaugurated in August 2016. SPS did not take part in the
2017 presidential election and instead it supported Vučić, who ended up winning 56% of the popular vote in the first round of the election. His election as president was followed by
mass protests. At the end of 2018, a
series of anti-government protests began and they lasted until March 2020. During this period, the opposition
Alliance for Serbia announced that it would boycott the
2020 parliamentary elections. This led the SPS-led coalition to win 32 seats, despite getting less votes than in the 2016 election. SPS offered to continue its cooperation with the SNS-led coalition, which now had 188 out of 250 seats in the National Assembly. SPS remained in government with SNS after the election, while Dačić, who had been the first deputy prime minister of Serbia since 2014, became the president of the National Assembly in October 2020. Dačić presided over the dialogues to improve election conditions from May to October 2021. SPS affirmed its position to continue its support for SNS after these dialogues, while in January 2022, SPS announced that it would support Vučić in the
2022 presidential election. In the parliamentary election, SPS took part in a coalition with JS and Zeleni, while it campaigned on greater cooperation with China and Russia. It won 31 seats in total, 22 out of which went to SPS, while Vučić won 60% of the popular vote in the presidential election. SPS agreed to continue governing with SNS after the election, which led to Dačić being re-appointed as first deputy prime minister in October 2022. After Vučić announced the formation of the
People's Movement for the State in March 2023, Dačić has affirmed that it could bring "a new, even higher stage of cooperation between SNS and SPS". However, a faction opposed to joining the movement was formed inside SPS with individuals, such as vice-president
Predrag J. Marković who has said that "SPS would lose its identity if it joins the movement". Despite this, SPS again formed an electoral alliance with JS and Zeleni for the
early 2023 parliamentary election. SPS suffered from defeat in the elections, only winning 12 seats as part of the SPS-led coalition. Dačić expressed his willingness of electing a new president of SPS, however, the main board of SPS expressed its support for Dačić to remain president of SPS and to continue the cooperation with SNS. In an unprecedent move, SPS formed a joint electoral list with SNS for the
2024 Belgrade City Assembly election. Their electoral list won 52 percent of the popular vote and 64 out of 110 seats in the City Assembly of Belgrade. As of November 2024, the SNS-led government, which includes SPS, has been faced with the student-led
anti-corruption protests. In April 2025, SPS became a minority partner in
Đuro Macut's cabinet. == Ideology and platform ==