Democratic Alternative (Serbia)

{{Short description|Former centre-left political party in Serbia}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}

{{Infobox political party

| name = Democratic Alternative

| native_name = Демократска алтернатива
Demokratska alternativa

| logo =

| colorcode = #FF91A4

| leader =

| deputy_leader =

| president = Nebojša Čović

| chairman =

| general_secretary =

| first_secretary =

| secretary_general =

| presidium =

| secretary =

| spokesperson =

| foundation = {{start date|1997|07}}

| dissolved = {{end date|2004}}

| split = Socialist Party of Serbia

| merged = Social Democratic Party

| ideology = {{ubl|Social democracy|Democratic socialism}}

| position = Centre-left

| headquarters =

| international =

| website =

| country = Serbia

}}

The Democratic Alternative ({{langx|sr|Демократска aлтернатива|Demokratska alternativa}}; abbr. ДА, DA) was a political party in Serbia. It was founded in July 1997 by secession of certain members from the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), most notably Nebojša Čović who served as the party's president during its entire existence.{{cite book |last1=Bugajski |first1=Janusz |title=Political Parties of Eastern Europe |date=2002 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=1-56324-676-7 |page=401 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9gGKtLTQlUcC&pg=PA401}}{{cite book |last1=Banks |first1=William C. |title=Political Handbook of the World 2007 |date=2006 |publisher=CQ Press |isbn=9780872893702 |page=1082}} It later merged into the Social Democratic Party (SDP), whom its leadership took over.

Democratic Alternative was part of the 2000-2003 Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), which ran on the December 2000 parliamentary elections. It received 6 seats of the 176 won by the Democratic Opposition. Nebojša Čović became the interim Deputy Prime Minister on October 24, 2000. On 25 January 2001 the new government was elected in which he served as Deputy Prime Minister until 18 March 2004. For a short time from 12 March 2003 to 17 March 2003 Čović was the acting Premier in the wake of the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.

At the December 2003 parliamentary election, the party won 84,463 votes or 2.2% of the popular vote thus failed to pass the electoral threshold.

Electoral results

=Parliamentary elections=

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

|+ National Assembly of Serbia

! Year

! Popular vote

! % of popular vote

! # of seats

! Seat change

! Coalition

! Status

1997

| 60,855

| 1.47%

| {{Composition bar|1|250|{{party color|Democratic Alternative (Serbia)}}}}

| {{increase}} 1

| With SSS

| {{no|opposition}}

2000

| 2,404,758

| 64.09%

| {{Composition bar|6|250|{{party color|Democratic Alternative (Serbia)}}}}

| {{increase}} 5

| DOS

| {{yes|government}}

2003

| 84,463

| 2.20%

| {{Composition bar|0|250|{{party color|Democratic Alternative (Serbia)}}}}

| {{decrease}} 6

| –

| style="background:#ddd;"| no seats

References