Vojvodina Autonomist Movement
{{Short description|Political movement in Serbia}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Context|date=April 2022}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2022}}
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The Vojvodina Autonomist Movement ({{langx|sr|Војвођански аутономашки покрет|Vojvođanski autonomaški pokret}}), or colloquially the Autonomists ({{langx|sr|Аутономаши|Autonomaši}}) is a political movement in the Serbian province of Vojvodina that advocates more autonomy for Vojvodina within Serbia.
History
File:Vojvodina_flag_proposed_by_LSV_in_the_1990s.svg in the 1990s and still in some limited use today]]
The idea was introduced during the 1990s and was more popular during the Yugoslav Wars when one part of the local population wasn't satisfied with the regime of Slobodan Milošević. During this time period, Milošević's regime abolished much of the aspects of Vojvodina's autonomy, which the province enjoyed during the time of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Political parties
There are several political parties or party coalitions that advocate more autonomy for Vojvodina. Most significant of them is the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina.{{Cite book |last=Filep |first=Bela |url=http://www.vlebooks.com/vleweb/product/openreader?id=none&isbn=9781317020448 |title=The politics of good neighbourhood: state, civil society and the enhancement of cultural capital in east central Europe |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-317-02044-8 |pages=71 |language=en |oclc=1100696685}} Other autonomist party is Vojvodina's Party. Both parties are mostly led and supported by local Vojvodinian Serb population. There are also several political parties of local ethnic minorities, some of which, aside from supporting rights of ethnic minorities, are also supporting the idea of more autonomy for Vojvodina, an example of which is the Pannonian Rusyn minority party Together for Vojvodina.{{Cite book |last=Bugajski |first=Janusz |url=http://public.eblib.com/choice/PublicFullRecord.aspx?p=6341927 |title=Political parties of Eastern Europe: a guide to politics in the post-Communist era |date=2020 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-16135-9 |language=en |oclc=1195438455}} People's Peasant Party used to be autonomist but was expelled from the Vojvodina Coalition and became a Serbian Progressive Party satellite. The Reformists of Vojvodina under Nedeljko Šljivanac is accused of having no ties to the original party.{{cite web|url=https://respublicacasopis.net/2024/02/12/put-do-autonomije-vojvodine-i-nazad/|author=Predrag Đurić|title=Put do autonomije Vojvodine i nazad|lang=sr|date=12 Feb 2024|work=ResPublica}}
| style="text-align:right"
| {| class="wikitable" |+Provincial elections |
| Year
!colspan=2| Party !Votes !Percentage !Seats |
|---|
| rowspan=3|2004
|bgcolor="{{party color|League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina}}"| | style="text-align:left;"|Together for Vojvodina |60,389 |9.8% |7 |
| bgcolor="{{party color|Reformists of Vojvodina}}"|
| style="text-align:left;"|Clean Hands of Vojvodina |14,666 |2.4% |2 |
| style="background:#E9E9E9;"
|colspan=2 style="text-align:left;"|TOTAL: |75,055 |12.2% |9 |
| rowspan=3|2008
|bgcolor="{{party color|League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina}}"| | style="text-align:left;"|Together for Vojvodina |86,653 |8.5% |6 |
| bgcolor="{{party color|Vojvodina's Party}}"|
| style="text-align:left;"|Vojvodina's Party |6,996 |0.7% |0 |
| style="background:#E9E9E9;"
|colspan=2 style="text-align:left;"|TOTAL: |93,649 |9.2% |6 |
| 2012
|bgcolor="{{party color|League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina}}"| | style="text-align:left;"|League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina |111,397 |11.6% |10 |
| rowspan=3|2016
|bgcolor="{{party color|League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina}}"| | style="text-align:left;"|League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina |61,979 |6.6% |9 |
| bgcolor="{{party color|Vojvodina's Party}}"|
| style="text-align:left;"|Vojvodina Tolerance |4,943 |0.5% |0 |
| style="background:#E9E9E9;"
|colspan=2 style="text-align:left;"|TOTAL: |66,922 |7.2% |9 |
| 2020
|bgcolor="{{party color|Vojvodina Front (Serbia)}}"| | style="text-align:left;"|Vojvodina Front |41,455 |5.3% |6 |
| 2023
|bgcolor="{{party color|League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina}}"| | style="text-align:left;"|Vojvodinians |24,625 |2.6% |0 |
|
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|+Parliamentary elections in Vojvodina |
| Year
!colspan=2| Party !Votes !Percentage |
|---|
| 2014
|bgcolor="{{party color|League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina}}"| | style="text-align:left;"|NDS–LSV–ZZS–VMDK–ZZV–{{abbr|DLR|Democratic Left of Roma}} |8.1% |
| 2016
|bgcolor="{{party color|League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina}}"| | style="text-align:left;"|Alliance for a Better Serbia |6.5% |
| 2020
|bgcolor="{{party color|United Democratic Serbia}}"| | style="text-align:left;"|United Democratic Serbia |2.4% |
| 2022
|bgcolor="{{party color|Together for Vojvodina (party)}}"| | style="text-align:left;"|Together for Vojvodina |2.1% |
|}
Proposals and initiatives
There are various views among autonomist proponents about the desired level of autonomy of Vojvodina. Some advocate for returning to the level of autonomy as it was provided by the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution, while others support the idea of somewhat lesser level of autonomy than that.
One of the proposals included the one put forward by the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina, which advocated the transformation of Serbia into a "federal state" with federal units having varying degrees of autonomy.{{Cite book |last1=Vance |first1=Charles |url=http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=20748 |title=Managing a global workforce: challenges and opportunities in international human resource management |date=2006 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-0-7656-2016-3 |location=Armonk, N.Y. |pages=426 |language=en |oclc=1020540099}} One of the federal units, according to the proposal, would be the Republic of Vojvodina while others would be Šumadija, Southeastern Serbia, City of Belgrade, Sandžak and Kosovo.{{Cite web |title=Separatisti sa novim programom stvaranja još jedne lažne države na teritoriji Srbije |url=https://www.magazin-tabloid.com/casopis/?id=06&br=339&cl=13 |access-date=2022-03-20 |website=Magazin Tabloid}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XeItAQAAIAAJ |title=Enciklopedija Novog Sada |date=1999 |publisher=Novosadski klub "Dobra vest" |pages=40–41 |language=sr}} In recent years, the LSV mostly abandoned the idea of a Republic of Vojvodina, but is still advocating for a higher level of autonomy for the province.
In 2013 as an answer to the proposal of the Third Serbia, Novi Sad-based political organization, to abolish the province of Vojvodina, the Vojvodina's Party performed a campaign that involved the posting of "Republic of Vojvodina" posters in Novi Sad.{{cite web |url=http://trecasrbija.rs/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091013100253/http://trecasrbija.rs/ |archive-date=2009-10-13 |title=Трећа Србија – Treća Srbija – Third Serbia}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.rtv.rs/sr_ci/vojvodina/novi-sad/treca-srbija:-ds-brinula-o-kulturi-kao-o-lanjskom-snegu_367019.html|title = Трећа Србија: ДС бринула о култури као о лањском снегу}}{{cite web |url=http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2013&mm=01&dd=28&nav_category=11&nav_id=681363 |title = NS:Novi plakati Vojvodina republika - B92| date=28 January 2013 }}