The Serbian Radical Party (, abbr. SRS) is a far-right, ultranationalist political party in Serbia. Founded in 1991, its co-founder, first and only leader is Vojislav Šešelj.
The SRS was founded in 1991 as a merger of the Serbian Chetnik Movement, led by Šešelj, and the People's Radical Party, led by Tomislav Nikolić. Upon formation, they became the president and deputy president of SRS respectively. During the first half of the 1990s the SRS supported the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia regime, which had contributed greatly to the rise of SRS through the use of media. The party had strong support until the 2000 election, when SRS suffered a major defeat, but through populist rhetoric it became the most voted party in the early-to-mid 2000s. Šešelj voluntarily surrendered to the ICTY to defend himself against charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity that he was alleged to have committed during the Croatian War of Independence and the Bosnian War. Nikolić assumed de facto party leadership until he left the party in 2008.
During the years of Nikolić's leadership, SRS blended ultranationalism with brash, populist, and anti-corruption rhetoric. Due to disagreements with Šešelj over European Union integration, Nikolić took many of the high-ranking members of the party to form the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which became the ruling party of Serbia in 2012. After the split, Dragan Todorović assumed de facto leadership, and the party went into a major decline, only pulling 4% of the vote in 2012 and 2% in 2014, the first time that SRS was not represented in the parliament. Shortly after Šešelj's return to Serbia in 2014, the party gained back some of its popularity and it placed third with 8% of the vote in the 2016 election. In late 2019, the party went into decline again, and in the 2020 election it ended up only with 2% of the vote and gaining no seats in the parliament again.
A right-wing populist party, SRS supports the creation of a Greater Serbia. It is Eurosceptic, anti-Western orientated, opposed to the accession of Serbia to the European Union and supports establishing closer ties with Russia instead. Some journalists described SRS as neofascist in the 1990s due to its vocal support of ultranationalism. Regarding social issues, SRS is traditionalist. It also holds local branches in some of the neighbouring states.
Ideology
thumb|250px|[[Vojislav Šešelj, president of the Serbian Radical Party, is one of the staunchest advocates of Greater Serbia.]]
The party's core ideology is based on Serbian nationalism and the goal of creating a Greater Serbia.) and globalisation, advocating closer ties with Russia instead. The party regards former general Ratko Mladić and former Republika Srpska president Radovan Karadžić as "Serbian heroes".
In 2007, the party advocated the use of military force to prevent the independence of Kosovo.
History
Foundation
thumb|The symbol of the Serbian Radical Party
The Serbian Radical Party (SRS) was formed on 23 February 1991 by the merger of Vojislav Šešelj's Serbian Chetnik Movement (SČP) and the People's Radical Party (NRS). The SČP had been formed in 1990, although it was denied official registration due to its overt identification with the historical Chetniks. Formation of the new party followed Šešelj's breakaway from the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) due to internal quarrels with Vuk Drašković; the SPO having been founded by the merger of Šešelj's former Serbian Freedom Movement and Drašković's faction from the Serbian National Renewal.
Milošević breaks with SRS
By late 1993 the parties had turned against each other. Following Milošević's agreement to the Dayton accords in 1995 to bring peace to Bosnia, Šešelj denounced Milošević as "the worst traitor in Serbian history", and likened the event to Serbia's greatest defeat since the Battle of Kosovo fought against the Ottoman Empire in 1389. U.S. officials in turn branded him a "fascist", while the U.S. Department of State declared that they would never deal with him. Deputy President Nikolić became the new de facto SRS leader and presented a more moderate face, with a new approach to international cooperation and a vision of Serbia acting as a "link between the West and the East."
thumb|right|200px|SRS supporters demonstrating against Kosovo's declaration of independence, [[Belgrade, 2008]]
Nikolić leadership
During the 2003 parliamentary election, the SRS condemned cooperation with the war crimes tribunal, corruption scandals in government, poor living standards, and slightly moderated its formerly aggressive rhetoric. While it won a clear plurality with 28% of the vote and 82 seats, the party was still viewed as a pariah by its democratic rivals and was thus left in opposition. He stepped down just five days later, as the DS and DSS agreed to form a coalition government.
At the National Assembly's first session on 14 February 2007, politicians voted overwhelmingly to reject the proposal by UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari on the preliminary resolution of the status of Kosovo. New elections were called in 2008 as the DS-DSS coalition collapsed due to EU recognition of Kosovo's declaration of independence. In the 2008 parliamentary election the SRS again won 29% of the vote, and 78 seats, leading to the formation of a DS-SPS-led government coalition. The party also won 17 seats in the Kosovska Mitrovica-based Community Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija consisting of Kosovan Serb municipalities who defied Kosovo's declaration of independence.
2008 split
After disagreements with Šešelj, on 8 September 2008, Nikolić formed the new parliamentary group Napred Srbijo! ("Forward Serbia!") along with a number of other SRS members. Nikolić and his group were officially expelled from the SRS the next day, in response to which Nikolić announced that he would form his own party. On 14 September, SRS general secretary Aleksandar Vučić also resigned from the SRS. Nikolić and Vučić then launched the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) on 21 October of the same year.
Following their departure, Dragan Todorović took over as the party's acting leader from Nikolić; however the office of deputy chairman was officially abolished. By April 2011 the SRS had about 7% of support in opinion polls, while the SNS and its coalition partners held about 40%. In the 2012 parliamentary election the Radical Party received only 4.63% of the popular vote, thus failing to cross the 5% threshold to enter parliament for the first time in the party's history.
Šešelj's return
With their leader back in Serbia in 2014, the party campaigned for the parliamentary election of 2016 aiming to restore its presence prior to 2008. They received 8.34% of the popular vote and gained back 22 seats. In the 2020 parliamentary election, the SRS received 2.22% of the votes, thus failing to get above the new lowered 3% threshold and lost all their seats. In the following elections, they did not receive enough votes to cross the electoral threshold.
The party formed an alliance with the ruling Serbian Progressive Party to contest the 2023 Belgrade City Assembly election. This announcement caused attention in national media. In the 2024 Belgrade City Assembly election, the party gained 2 seats whilst being with the ruling SNS coalition. During the 2024 local election, the SRS cooperated with the SNS coalition.
International relations
The Serbian Radical Party maintains ties with the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and had ties with the French National Front party in the 1990s.
The party counted Iraq's Saddam Hussein and the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party as one of its political and financial backers until the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as the parties found common cause in defiance of the United States. The SRS has also expressed support for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad following the Syrian Civil War. Šešelj advocates for a neutral position on the Israel-Palestine conflict, balancing Serbia's strong relations with both countries.
On 9 March 2016 Šešelj and Zmago Jelinčič, president of the Slovenian National Party, signed an agreement with the intention of bringing their parties closer in terms of partnership and political alliance.
List of presidents
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan="2"|
! colspan="2"| President
! Birth–Death
! Term start
! Term end
|-
! 1
! style="background:"|
| Vojislav Šešelj || 100x100px|alt=A photo of Vojislav Šešelj from 2020 || 1954– || 23 February 1991 || Incumbent
|}
Acting leaders during the incarceration of Šešelj
Šešelj was incarcerated at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) from 2003 to 2014.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:41%"
|-
! colspan="2"|
! colspan="2"| Name
! Birth–Death
! Term start
! Term end
|-
! 1
! style="background:"|
| Tomislav Nikolić || 50px|alt=A photo of Tomislav Nikolić from 2012 || 1952– || 24 February 2003 || 5 September 2008
|-
! 2
! style="background:"|
| Dragan Todorović || 50px|alt=A photo of Dragan Todorović from 2013 || 1953– || 5 September 2008 || 26 May 2012
|-
! 3
! style="background:"|
| Nemanja Šarović