Civic Democratic Forum

Civic Democratic Forum (Serbian: Грађански демократски форум, romanizedGrađanski Demokratski forum, abbr. GDF) is a liberal[1] political party in Serbia. It was founded in 2019 by former members of the Movement of Free Citizens (PSG).[2] It has positioned itself as a party that opposes the rule of Aleksandar Vučić, although it has also criticised other opposition parties.[3]

Civic Democratic Forum
Građanski demokratski forum
Грађански демократски форум
AbbreviationGDF
PresidentZoran Vuletić
FounderAleksandar Olenik
Founded2 March 2019 (2019-03-02)
Split fromMovement of Free Citizens
HeadquartersBirčaninova 2A, Belgrade
IdeologyLiberalism
Political positionCentre
Colors
  •   Purple
  •   Orange
National Assembly
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Assembly of Vojvodina
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City Assembly of Belgrade
0 / 110
Website
gdf.org.rs

History

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When Saša Janković resigned as president of Movement of Free Citizens, candidates for his successor were actor Sergej Trifunović and Aleksandar Olenik. The interim president was Rade Veljanovski. When Trifunović won with 60% of the vote, Veljanovski, Olenik, and several other members left the movement. On 2 March 2019, they formed Civic Democratic Forum.[2]

In April 2019, they signed an cooperation agreement with Party of Modern Serbia.[4] Together they issued a statement in which they present a solution for Kosovo. Their stance is that Serbia should exchange territories with Kosovo and recognise its independence.[5]

In February 2020, the party formed a "European bloc" with the Party of Modern Serbia and League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina.[6] It was also consisted of the newly-formed Serbia 21, and they announced their participation in the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election under the United Democratic Serbia banner. It failed to pass the electoral threshold after winning less than 1% of the vote.

It kept close ties to the Together for Serbia political party and its leader Nebojša Zelenović until early 2021.[7][8] It did not participate in the 2022 general election, and instead, it stated its support for the We Must coalition.[9]

Presidents of the Civic Democratic Forum

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No. President Birth–Death Term start Term end
1 Aleksandar Olenik   1973– 2 March 2019 3 October 2020
2 Zoran Vuletić   1970– 3 October 2020 Incumbent

Electoral performance

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Parliamentary elections

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National Assembly of Serbia
Year Leader Popular vote % of popular vote # of seats Change Coalition Government
2020 Aleksandar Olenik 30,591 0.99%
0 / 250
  0 UDS Extra-parliamentary
2022 Zoran Vuletić Did not participate
0 / 250
  0 Extra-parliamentary
2023 5,462 0.15%
0 / 250
  0 SNZ Extra-parliamentary

Belgrade City Assembly elections

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City Assembly of Belgrade
Year Leader Popular vote % of popular vote # of seats Seat change Coalition Status
2022 Zoran Vuletić Did not participate
0 / 110
  6 Extra-parliamentary
2023 2,324 0.25%
0 / 250
  0 Nova–D2SP–GDF–Libdem–Glas Extra-parliamentary
2024 Did not participate
0 / 110
  0 Extra-parliamentary

Presidential elections

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President of Serbia
Election year # Candidate 1st round votes % 2nd round votes % Elected Notes
2022 Biljana Stojković Support

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Oprijan, Bojana. "Gdje je nestala građanska opcija u (pred)izbornoj Srbiji". Al Jazeera Balkans (in Bosnian).
  2. ^ a b Komazec, Marija (2 March 2019). "Osnovan Građanski demokratski forum". N1 (in Serbian). Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  3. ^ Mladenov Jovanović, Srđan (2020). "A New Political Scarecrow? The Political Program and Activity of the "Serbian Right"". Suvremene Teme. 11 (1): 11–26. doi:10.46917/st.11.1.1.
  4. ^ "Još jedno cepanje pa spajanje u opoziciji, stručnjaci kažu da to zbunjuje birače". N1 (in Serbian). 2 April 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Olenik i Stojanović predstavili dva modela rešenja za Kosovo". N1 (in Serbian). 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  6. ^ "Vojvođanski front, SMS, GDF i Slobodno Pančevo formiraju Evropski blok". N1 (in Serbian). 5 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  7. ^ "Zajedno za Srbiju i Građanski demokratski forum potpisali sporazum o saradnji". N1 (in Serbian). 21 October 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  8. ^ "Serbia: Liberal views on the new Government in Serbia". www.freiheit.org. 10 November 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  9. ^ Radovanović, Vojin (14 March 2022). "Vuletić (GDF): Tadić nije bio spreman na sopstveni reset, podršku dajemo Moramo i Biljani Stojković". Danas (in Serbian). Retrieved 14 March 2022.