Vuk Drašković was a writer for most of his life and he particularly became known in the 1980s due to his nationalist-themed books.[2]: 143 [3]: 39 He formed the Saint Sava Association in 1989 with Mirko Jović, Vojislav Šešelj, and Veljko Guberina, which sought to promote nationalism in Vojvodina.[4][5]: 582 This association became a political party named Serbian National Renewal (SNO) in January 1990.[4][5]: 581–582 Jović became the president of SNO and Drašković served along with Žarko Gavrilović [sr] as one of the vice-presidents of the party.[3]: 53 [5]: 582
As the chief ideologist of SNO, Drašković drafted its plan on expanding Serbia's borders which were based on historical and ethnic borders of the Serbs.[3]: 53 [5]: 582 Alongside this, SNO also advocated for the restoration of the monarchy and de-Titoisation.[3]: 53 A schism inside SNO occurred in March 1990.[3]: 53 Jović began attacking Drašković due to his past membership in the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, while Drašković criticised Jović due to his pro-Slobodan Milošević views.[3]: 53 [5]: 582 Drašković created a faction inside SNO that with Šešelj, who at the time led the Serbian Freedom Movement, merged to form the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) on 14 March 1990.[3]: 54 [4][6]: 30 Drašković was chosen as the party's president.[3]: xx
Drašković and Šešelj were unable to cooperate together and in May 1990 Šešelj left SPO due to a dispute over whether to protest Siniša Kovačević's play titled Saint Sava.[3]: 55 Šešelj went on to form the Serbian Chetnik Movement, whose registration was rejected, and then the Serbian Radical Party (SRS).[3]: 58 [10] After the July 1990 referendum, first multi-party elections in Serbia were called to be held in December 1990.[11] SPO believed that the referendum should have occurred once the multi-party elections ended and the National Assembly of Serbia was constituted.[12]: 41 Despite this, SPO decided to take part in the elections; Drašković was SPO's presidential candidate.[12]: 30, 37
During the 1990 election campaign, SPO organised protests in opposition to the policies of Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) and protests due to alleged electoral manipulation.[12]: 38 [13] Together with another opposition party, the Democratic Party (DS), SPO threatened to boycott the election due to the election conditions.[10][12]: 38 SPO sought to start its actions in towns and villages of the Šumadija region; Drašković called Valjevo his "political capital".[3]: 56–57 SPO did also campaign briefly in Kosovo, but was met with opposition from Milošević supporters.[3]: 56–57 [10] Additionally, Drašković used nationalist rhetoric in his speeches, earning the nickname "King of the Streets" due to his fiery oratory skills.[10] Their campaign ended when a SPO activist was murdered by a Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) member.[10][14] Drašković won 16 per cent of the popular vote and was eventually defeated by Milošević in the first round of the election in a landslide.[5]: 549 SPO only won 19 seats in the National Assembly,[5]: 549 due to Serbia's new first-past-the-post electoral system, which favoured Milošević's SPS, the then-ruling and largest party of Serbia.[10][15] Another factor that contributed to SPO's failure at gathering more votes was that SPS also used nationalist rhetoric.[12]: 30 Drašković portrayed the election as a contest "between Bolshevism and democracy, the past and the future".[16] Although a second round of the presidential elections did not occur, opposition parties did briefly gather around the United Opposition of Serbia coalition, signing a declaration in which they declared that citizens should vote for the opposition candidate in the second round, regardless of their party affiliation.[17][18]
SPO was disappointed with government's domination in the media and together with DS, it announced a protest for 9 March 1991.[3]: 81 [19]: 97 Despite the government banning the gathering, demonstrators gathered in Belgrade; they were attacked by the police.[3]: 81 Drašković was eventually arrested and Studio B and B92 radio stations were closed down.[3]: 81 The protests increased in size and Milošević was met with pressure;[3]: 82, 84 Drašković was released, Studio B and B92 were allowed to broadcast again, and the RTS director was sacked.[3]: 84–85 [20] Author Robert Thomas said that Drašković came under criticism from certain opposition politicians due to not taking the advantage of the protests after his release.[3]: 86–87 After the protests, SPO went to form the shortly-lived United Serbian Democratic Opposition with the Serbian Liberal Party and New Democracy–Movement for Serbia that existed up till late summer of 1991.[3]: 89, 91 [21]
The SPO was part of the "Together" (Zajedno) coalition in the 1996 parliamentary election which received 23.8% of the popular vote, losing to the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). In 1997, Drašković ran twice for president but finished third in both elections. Its party won the third largest number of seats in that year's Serbian parliamentary elections. A dissident group inside the party abandoned the SPO and formed New Serbia (NS) in 1997.
1998–2001
In early 1999, the SPO joined the Slobodan Milošević-led government, and Drašković became a Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister. The SPO had a place in Serbia's Rambouillet Agreement delegation and held posts such as the Yugoslav Information Ministry to show a more pro-Western face to the world in the run-up to NATO's bombing campaign in 1999 against the country. In the midst of the war, Drašković and the SPO pulled out of the government, calling on Milošević to surrender to NATO.
The SPO participated in an attempt to overthrow Milošević in 1999, which faltered after Drašković broke off his alliance with opposition leader Zoran Đinđić. This caused the anti-Milošević elements to suggest that he was working for Milošević.
In 2000 presidential and parliamentary elections in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in which Milošević lost, the Serbian Renewal Movement overestimated its strength and ran independently, outside of the vast Democratic Opposition of Serbia coalition. Vojislav Mihajlović, grandson of Chetnik commander Draža Mihajlović, was its presidential candidate. He was opposed by Vojislav Koštunica of DOS, Slobodan Milošević of the ruling SPS and Tomislav Nikolić of the Serbian Radical Party. The SPO's vote collapsed, with its traditional voters drawn by Kostunica's conservatism and by the fact that he was their best hope to remove Milošević from power.
There was talk before the 5. October changes of dissolving the Mirko Marjanović government in Serbia and setting up a government with the Serbian Radical Party. Following the 5.October changes the SPO participated in a so-called national unity government that served effectively under DOS "coordinator" Zoran Đinđić. In December 2000, after two months of DOS rule, Serbian parliamentary elections were held. The SPO, once the strongest opposition, failed to enter the parliament.
The party fought the December 2003 legislative elections in a coalition with New Serbia. The coalition received 7.7% of the popular vote and 22 seats in parliament. 13 of these were allocated to the SPO. In turn, the coalition had dispatched 8 deputies into the federal Assembly of Serbia and Montenegro.
SPO-NS became part of Vojislav Koštunica's first elected cabinet. Vuk Drašković was selected for Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In 2004, nine members of the National Assembly left SPO, citing their disapproval with the party's leadership. Together with seven members of SPO's main board and two vice-presidents of SPO, they formalised the Serbian Democratic Renewal Movement (SDPO).[23]
The SPO participated in the 2007 election independently and received 3.33% of the vote, winning no seats.
2008–2012
In the 2008 elections the SPO took part in the For a European Serbia coalition under President Boris Tadić, receiving 38.42% of the vote and 102 seats in parliament. Four seats were given to the SPO along with the Ministry of Diaspora portfolio.
During the party's early history, when SPO still favoured a Greater Serbian policy, Drašković intended SPO to also have branches in Yugoslavia's constituent republics where Serbs were a large minority, such as in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.[3]: 55 There was a proposal to form SPO branches in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the congress in October 1990, however, Drašković rejected it, stating that "such a move would only serve to divide the Serbian voters"; he described Radovan Karadžić's Serb Democratic Party as a "sister-party to our movement".[3]: 56 SPO did eventually nominate candidates for the 1990 Bosnian municipal elections and only one SPO candidate was elected in the Assembly of Nevesinje.[3]: 56
^Orlović, Slaviša; Kovačević, Despot (2020). Trideset godina obnovljenog višepartizma u Srbiji - (ne)naučene lekcije [Thirty years of renewed multipartyism in Serbia - (un)learned lessons] (in Serbian) (1 ed.). Belgrade: Faculty of Political Sciences, Centre for Democracy, Hanns Seidel Foundation. ISBN9788664250696.
^ abcdeGoati, Vladimir (2001). Izbori u SRJ od 1990. do 1998.: Volja građana ili izborna manipulacija? [Elections in the FRY from 1990 to 1998: Will of the citizens or electoral manipulation?] (in Serbian) (2 ed.). Belgrade: CeSID. LCCN2010496417. OCLC499043191. OL30487667M.
^Drčelić, Zoran (14 March 2012). "Kanabe nas je održalo" [Stools kept us going]. Vreme (in Serbian). Retrieved 24 August 2023.
^Masson, Diane (2004). "Les freins au processus de démocratisation en Serbie depuis 1990" [Obstacles to the democratisation process in Serbia since 1990]. Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest (in French). 35 (1): 41, 55. doi:10.3406/receo.2004.1642. ISSN0338-0599.
^Goati, Vladimir (2007). Političke partije i partijski sistemi [Political parties and party systems] (in Serbian) (1 ed.). Podgorica, Montenegro: Centar za monitoring. p. 110. ISBN9788685547133. OCLC444695373.
^ abStojarová, Věra; Emerson, Peter. "Political parties in Serbia"(PDF). bochsler.eu. Bochsler, Center for Comparative and International Studies, University of Zurich.
^Drezgić, Rada (April 2009). Religion, politics and gender in Serbia: The re-traditionalization of gender roles in the context of nation-state formation. Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. p. 12.
^Ramet, Sabrina P.; Lazić, Sladjana (2011). "The Collaborationist Regime of Milan Nedić". In Ramet, Sabrina P.; Listhaug, Ola (eds.). Serbia and the Serbs in World War Two. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN978-0-230-27830-1.