Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Green–Left Front
Political party in Serbia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Green–Left Front (Serbian: Зелено–леви фронт, romanized: Zeleno–levi front, abbr. ZLF) is a green political party in Serbia. It is the successor of Don't Let Belgrade Drown association and four local citizens' groups. Radomir Lazović and Biljana Đorđević serve as the co-presidents of ZLF.
Formed in July 2023, and registered as a political party a month later, ZLF was one of the organisers of the 2023 Serbian protests. It later became part of the Serbia Against Violence coalition which contested the parliamentary, Vojvodina provincial, and Belgrade City Assembly elections in December 2023. They won 10 seats in the National Assembly of Serbia and 14 seats in the City Assembly of Belgrade. Regarding the latter, their number of seats was reduced to five after the 2024 Belgrade City Assembly election.
ZLF is a left-wing and progressive party that declares itself to be supportive of solidarity, social justice, and environmental protection. It supports extending LGBTQ rights, proposes anti-gambling policies, and opposes the Rio Tinto project near Loznica, the privatisation of public transport in Belgrade, and the construction of Trump Tower Belgrade. On foreign policy, they support the accession of Serbia to the European Union, while condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Gaza genocide. They have also supported the student-led anti-corruption protests that began in 2024. ZLF is a member of the Progressive International and the European Greens.
Remove ads
History
Summarize
Perspective
Formation
At the sixth congress of Do not let Belgrade drown (NDB) in June 2022, it was announced that NDB would transform itself into a political party that would be active on national level, as opposed to only being active in Belgrade.[1] NDB also announced that several local organisations would take part in the foundation of the political party and that it would continue its actions within the We Must coalition.[1][2] In early February 2023, it was announced that the political party would be named the Green–Left Front (ZLF) and that it would also utilise its slogan "We are not giving up Serbia" (Ne damo Srbiju).[3][4] Radomir Lazović also announced that it would open local branches in Niš, Sombor, and Užice, while ZLF would also sign several cooperation agreements with local organisations in Serbia.[5][6]
On 10 February 2023, NDB signed an agreement on joint participation with the Choice for our Municipality citizens' group.[‡ 1] Four days later, it signed another agreement with the Critical Mass citizens' group.[7] In late February 2023, it signed an agreement with the "Initiative for Požega", while in early June, it signed an agreement with the Local Front from Valjevo and the Initiative for Lajkovac.[8][9][10] ZLF held its founding assembly on 14 July, during which the party adopted its statute and programme.[11][12] Biljana Đorđević has said that ZLF would take part in the upcoming local elections.[13]
2023–present
After the Belgrade school shooting and Mladenovac and Smederevo shootings in May 2023, ZLF has taken part in the 2023 protests as one of its organisers.[14][15] ZLF became part of the Serbia Against Violence (SPN) coalition in October 2023, a coalition of political parties organising the 2023 protests.[16] The SPN coalition announced that it would take part in the parliamentary, Vojvodina provincial, and Belgrade City Assembly elections, all scheduled for 17 December 2023.[17][18] Lazović was placed first on its electoral list for the parliamentary elections,[19] while Dobrica Veselinović was placed first for the Belgrade City Assembly election.[20] In the parliamentary election, SPN won 65 seats,[21] 10 of which went to ZLF.[22] In the Belgrade City Assembly, they won 14 seats.[23] After the elections, SPN called for the annulment of the results in Belgrade,[24] with ZLF alleging electoral fraud,[25] and organised protests up until 30 December.[26][27]
In January 2024, the New Optimisim political movement joined ZLF.[28] When the National Assembly of Serbia and Assembly of Vojvodina were constituted, the SPN split into several parliamentary groups.[29][30] The City Assembly of Belgrade, on the other hand, was not constituted because the quorum was not met during its constitutive session.[31] A new Belgrade City Assembly election was then called for 2 June.[32] SPN dissolved shortly after; ZLF and some opposition parties took part in the election under the We Choose Belgrade electoral list.[33] ZLF expressed cooperation with Kreni-Promeni after the elections.[34] In the 2 June election, the We Choose Belgrade electoral list only won 14 seats,[35] five of which went to ZLF.[36]
After the 2023 parliamentary election, the National Assembly formed a working body on improving election conditions.[37] ZLF remained a member of the working body until January 2025, when they left, citing obstruction from the government.[38] Since the beginning of the student-led anti-corruption protests, ZLF has supported the students.[39] Following the resignation of Miloš Vučević as prime minister of Serbia in 2025, ZLF was one of the parties that supported the formation of a transitional government as an end to the education crisis started by the protests. Đorđević said that according to their plan, the transitional government would fulfill student demands, organise free and fair elections, and revise the voter list.[40][41]
Remove ads
Political positions
Summarize
Perspective
ZLF is a green and progressive party,[42][43][44][45] while it declares itself to be supportive of solidarity, social justice, environmental protection, rights to public goods, and broad participation of citizens in decision-making.[1] Researcher Jovica Pavlović has also described it as an environmentalist party.[46] ZLF is considered to be a left-wing green and progressive party which stemmed from anti-neoliberal positions.[47] Lazović stated that it would be a left-wing political party,[5] and that its ideology would be orientated towards principles of the "green left".[48] He also noted that ZLF would be supportive of decentralisation, civic and human rights, and anti-fascism.[49] At the sixth congress of NDB, it was announced that ZLF would be ideologically and programmatically similar to NDB itself.[1] Political scientist Filip Balunović has described ZLF as a left-wing party.[50] Journalist Saša Dragojlo and newspaper Danas have also referred to ZLF as a left-wing party.[51][52] In May 2025, ZLF presented its anti-corruption programme.[53]
Domestic issues
ZLF supports extending LGBTQ rights.[54] In September 2023, they introduced a law to legalise same-sex civil unions to the National Assembly,[55] while a year later, in September 2024, they proposed the creation of a LGBTQ centre in Belgrade.[56] They have also focused on mental issues, such as proposing the improvement of education and social status of autistic people. They have proposed the creation of a national registry for people diagnosed with autism.[57] ZLF has higlighted its anti-gambling positions. It has criticised the establishment of the cooperation between the Ministry of Health and the Mozzart Foundation, a gambling company,[58] called for a ban on using cash in gambling,[59] supported increasing taxes on gambling,[60] and proposed a ban on gambling advertisements.[61]
ZLF has pledged to stop exploitation and the destruction of the environment.[62] They are also opposed to lithium mining and to the Rio Tinto project in Loznica.[63] During the 2023 Vojvodina provincial election campaign, ZLF stated that they support further decentralisation, combating inequality, and preserving the environment in Vojvodina.[64]
Regarding Belgrade, they have criticised and opposed the privatisation of the public transportation.[65] ZLF had also opposed the demolition of Hotel Jugoslavija[66] and is opposed to the construction of Trump Tower Belgrade.[67]
ZLF opposed the erection of a monument and the establishment of a museum dedicated to World War II Axis collaborator, Draža Mihailović, which were unveiled in October 2023.[68] They also oppose the introduction of mandatory military conscription.[69]
Regional issues
ZLF condemned the Banjska attack that occured in September 2023 in North Kosovo.[70] Lazović said that ZLF would support establishing "a true atonomy for Serbs in Kosovo" (stvarnu autonomiju za Srbe na Kosovu) and that they also would party support the 2023 Ohrid Agreement.[71] In August 2025, ZLF and Movement of Free Citizens were present at the 30 year commemoration of the Operation Storm that ended the Croatian War of Independence.[72]
Foreign policy
ZLF supports the accession of Serbia to the European Union;[73] it is also anti-militarist.[74] They have denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine[75] and the Gaza genocide.[76][‡ 2] Regarding the latter, they proposed a resolution to introduce sanctions for the export of weapons to Israel in October 2025.[77]
Remove ads
Organisation
Summarize
Perspective
ZLF is led by two co-presidents, Lazović and Đorđević. They were elected in November 2023.[78] Robert Kozma, Ljubinka Pejčić, Dobrica Veselinović, Rastislav Dinić, and Tamara Maksić are members of the presidency.[79] In its statute, ZLF stresses participatory democracy and has high democratic voting rights.[80] Its headquarters is located at Patrijarha Gavrila 6/III, Belgrade.[81] Their headquarters were vandalised in December 2023.[82] Lazović had also announced that ZLF will form youth, women, LGBT+, and elderly party wings; in June 2023, the Green Youth of Serbia formally joined ZLF as its youth wing, while in October 2023, the Autonomous Women's Front was formed as its women's wing.[83][84][‡ 3] Lazović is the parliamentary leader of ZLF in the National Assembly.[85]
ZLF began collecting signatures to become a registered party on 18 May and on 19 June it was announced that they have collected 11,000 signatures.[86][87] Regarding the finance costs for the registration of the party, Lazović said that NDB has mostly used membership donations but also public funds allocated for the functioning of the organisation.[83] ZLF was registered on 10 August 2023.[81]
International cooperation
From NDB, it has retained its candidate status to become a member of the European Greens.[12][88][89] Jelena Jerinić, a ZLF member of the National Assembly, said that she expected ZLF to become a member of the European Greens at the next congress.[89] ZLF representatives took part in the 37 European Greens congress in 2023.[‡ 4] In December 2024, ZLF became a full member of European Greens.[90] ZLF has also cooperated with the German Die Linke, a member of the Party of the European Left.[91] They have also collaborated with Gergely Karácsony, the mayor of Budapest,[92] and Meri Disoski, a politician from the Austrian Greens.[93]
As the successor of NDB, it is also affiliated with the Progressive International.[12][94]
List of presidents
.jpg)
Remove ads
Electoral performance
Parliamentary elections
Provincial elections
Belgrade City Assembly elections
Remove ads
References
See also
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads