League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina

The League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (Serbian: Лига социјалдемократа Војводине, romanized: Liga socijaldemokrata Vojvodine, abbr. LSV) is an autonomist political party in Serbia. Its current leader is Bojan Kostreš, who succeeded Nenad Čanak.^[1] They're colloquially known as ligaši (Leaguemen).

League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina Лига социјалдемократа Војводине
Abbreviation	LSV
President	Bojan Kostreš
Vice-Presidents	Branislav Bogaroški Dejan Čapo Robert Kolar
Founder	Nenad Čanak
Founded	14 July 1990 (1990-07-14)
Preceded by	SKV–VKL
Headquarters	Novi Sad
Ideology	Social democracy Vojvodina autonomism Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre-left
European affiliation	European Free Alliance
Colours	Blue   Yellow   Green
National Assembly	0 / 250
Assembly of Vojvodina	0 / 120
Party flag
Website
lsv.rs
Politics of Serbia Political parties Elections

History

The party was founded by Nenad Čanak on 14 July 1990 in Novi Sad. At the First Party Congress, the LSV adopted the party program, which defined following principles of the party: liberty, equality, justice, solidarity, and publicity. At the Second Congress, which was held in July 1997, the LSV adopted a new statute.^[2]

In the first years of its existence, the party's activities were mainly directed towards organisation of anti-war actions. Together with other parties, it organised anti-war demonstrations in Vojvodina and publicly opposed mobilisation of Vojvodina citizens for the front lines in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[2]

Ideology

LSV is positioned on the centre-left on the political spectrum.^[3][4] It is mainly orientated towards autonomism,^[5][6][7] although the party is also social-democratic,^[5][8] and regionalist.^[9] It represents itself as a multi-ethnic party, and it previously advocated for the creation of Republic of Vojvodina.^[10] It is also supportive of feminism and anti-fascism.^[11] It is supportive of accession of Serbia to the European Union.^[12][13]

In the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, LSV was associated with the Socialist Group.^[14]

Goals

The League advocates the "right of autonomous decisions about fundamental affairs of Vojvodina within Serbia", which, according to the League, was abolished after the so-called Yogurt Revolution in 1988 and after constitutional changes from 1990, which, according to the League, diminished the autonomy of Vojvodina to "protocolar minimum".^[2]

In December 1998, the League proclaimed that its political goal is establishment of the Republic of Vojvodina within a federalised Serbia.^[2] In recent years, the League mostly abandoned the idea of a Republic of Vojvodina, but it still advocated a greater level of autonomy for the province. In November 2011, League official Aleksandra Jerkov stated that "Vojvodina needs more jurisdictions", but that "there is no need for it to be a republic".^[15]

Presidents

No.	President		Birth–Death	Term start	Term end
1	Nenad Čanak		1959–	14 July 1990	19 November 2022
2	Bojan Kostreš		1974–	19 November 2022	Incumbent

Electoral performance

Parliamentary elections

In the 1990 Serbian general election, the League supported candidates of the Union of Reform Forces of Yugoslavia and the Association for Yugoslav Democratic Initiative in several electoral districts.

National Assembly of Serbia

Year	Leader	Popular vote	% of popular vote	# of seats	Seat change	Coalition	Status
1992	Nenad Čanak	36,780	0.78%	0 / 250		With RS-RK-NSS	no seats
1993		41,097	0.96%	0 / 250		With RDSV-SJ	no seats
1997		112,589	2.72%	3 / 250	3	KV	opposition
2000		2,402,387	64.09%	6 / 250	3	DOS	government
2003		161,765	4.23%	0 / 250	6	ZZT	no seats
2007		214,262	5.31%	4 / 250	4	With LDP-GSS-SDU-DHSS	opposition
2008		1,590,200	38.42%	5 / 250	1	ZES	support
2012		863,294	22.07%	3 / 250	2	IZBŽ	opposition
2014		204,767	5.70%	6 / 250	3	With NDS-Z-ZZS	opposition
2016		189,564	5.02%	4 / 250	2	With SDS-LDP	opposition
2020		30,591	0.95%	0 / 250	4	UDS	no seats
2022		did not participate		0 / 250	—	—	no seats

Provincial elections

In the 2004 provincial election, the LSV was part of the Together for Vojvodina coalition. The coalition won 9.44% of the popular vote in the first-round of voting. The party subsequently participated in post-election provincial government.

In the 2008 provincial election, the LSV was again part of the Together for Vojvodina coalition. The coalition won 8.25% of the popular vote in the first-round of voting, representing a drop of −1.19% from the previous election. The party subsequently participated in post-election provincial government.

Presidential elections

President of Serbia

Election year	#	Candidate	1st round votes	%	2nd round votes	%	Notes
1997	4th	Mile Isakov	111,166	2.43	—	—	Vojvodina Coalition; Election declared invalid due to low turnout
2002	2nd	Miroljub Labus	995,200	27.96	1,516,693	31.62	DOS; Election declared invalid due to low turnout
2003	2nd	Dragoljub Mićunović	893,906	35.42	—	—	DOS; Election declared invalid due to low turnout
2008	1st	Boris Tadić	1,457,030	35.39	2,304,467	50.31	For a European Serbia
2012	2nd	Boris Tadić	989,454	25.31	1,481,952	47.31	Choice for a Better Life
2017	9th	Nenad Čanak	41,070	1.12	—	—
2022	did not participate	—	—	—	—

Positions held

Major positions held by League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina members:

President of the Assembly of Vojvodina	Years
Nenad Čanak	2000–2004
Bojan Kostreš	2004–2008

Gallery

• 
  LSV balloon - 2012 elections campaign
• 
  LSV billboard in Novi Sad.
• 
  Republic of Vojvodina within federalised Serbia, proposed by the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina in 1999.