Liberal Democratic Party (Serbia, 1989)

Liberal Democratic Party

Либерално демократска странка
Liberalno demokratska stranka
Liberal Democratic Party Либерално демократска странка; Liberalno demokratska stranka
Former name	Liberal Party
Abbreviation	LS (until 1997); LDS (after 1997);
President	Aleksandar Stefanović; (1989–1990); Predrag Vuletić; (1990–2010);
Founded	14 December 1989
Registered	15 August 1990
Dissolved	19 January 2010
Succeeded by	Serbian Monarchists
Headquarters	Pantićeva 70, Valjevo; Njegoševa 1, Belgrade (until 2000); Mutapova 12, Belgrade (after 2000);
Ideology	Liberalism; Monarchism; Agrarianism; Anti-communism;
Political position	Syncretic
Colours	Blue; Gray;
Slogan	"Za obnovu Monarhije – za obnovu sela"; ("For the renewal of the monarchy – for the renewal of villages");
Website
	lds-serbia.org.yu (archived); lds-serbia.org.rs (archived);
	Politics of Serbia; Political parties; Elections;

The Liberal Democratic Party (Serbian: Либерално демократска странка, romanized: Liberalno demokratska stranka, abbr. LDS), known as the Liberal Party (Serbian: Либерална странка, romanized: Liberalna stranka, abbr. LS) until 1997, was a political party in Serbia. Founded in 1989, its first president was Aleksandar Stefanović [sr]. Stefanović left LS to join Vojislav Šešelj's Serbian Chetnik Movement in June 1990. He was then succeeded as president by Predrag Vuletić.

LS was opposed to Slobodan Milošević and his Socialist Party of Serbia and organised anti-government protests with other opposition parties in the 1990s. LS achieved its best result in parliamentary elections in 1990, and in all subsequent elections up to 1997, it received less than 1,000 votes. Vuletić also ran three times in presidential elections on behalf of the party, achieving his best result in the December 1997 election. LDS claimed membership in the Democratic Movement of Serbia coalition and was later a member of the Alliance for Change, the predecessor coalition of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia that toppled Milošević in 2000. In the 2000s, LDS contested four local elections, but did not gain any representation, while Vuletić also offered Čedomir Jovanović, the founder of the Liberal Democratic Faction inside the Democratic Party, to take over the party in 2004, but Jovanović never responded and formed his Liberal Democratic Party instead. LDS was succeeded by the Serbian Monarchists association in January 2010. Vuletić joined New Serbia in 2011.

A liberal party, LS was mostly ideologically focused on economic issues, favouring a free-market economy, privatisation, and agricultural development. It was also against nationalism, dissolution of Yugoslavia, and autonomism regarding Kosovo. The party was strongly anti-communist, favouring civic democracy instead, and supported the restoration of the monarchy and the lustration of former members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. It supported the accession of Serbia to the European Union and NATO and had ambitions to join the Liberal International.