This article is about the historical party, active in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. For the Democratic Party founded in 1989 active in SFR/FR Yugoslavia, see Democratic Party (Serbia).
The elected president of the party was Ljubomir Davidović, also a president of the Assembly and a mayor of Belgrade.
The party won the largest number of deputies in the first elections held in 1920: they could occupy 92 of the 419 seats in the constituent assembly.[2] From 1 January 1922 on, they participated in the government of Prime Minister Nikola Pašić of the People's Radical Party. Together with the People's Radical Party, the Democrats were the main supporters of the constitution passed on 28 June 1921.[3] Members of the Democratic Party were significantly involved in the foundation of the Organization of Yugoslav Nationalists (ORJUNA) in 1921.[4] In the 1923 elections, the party's number of deputies in the National Assembly dropped to 51.[5] In May 1924, the Democrats joined the Oppositional Bloc against the Pašić government, appealing for a democratic Yugoslavia and calling for a fair share in the government for Croatians and Slovenes.[6]
Democratic Party
In early 1924, Prime Minister Pašić succeeded in winning the support of some Democratic deputies around Svetozar Pribićević, to reject especially the Croatian demands for more influence. Therefore, the conflict between Pribićević and party leader Ljubomir Davidović heated. While Pribićević intransigently persisted on the principle of the unitary Yugoslavia, Davidović favoured moderation and concessions considering the Croatian demands. Hence, Pribićević and fourteen fellow lawmakers left the Democratic Party and founded the Independent Democratic Party, which readily joined a "National Bloc" coalition with the Radical Party of Prime Minister Pašić.[6]
The Democratic Party was in and out of government, either independently or as part of a coalition, until 1929 when King Alexander abolished the Vidovdan Constitution and created a personal dictatorship, changing the name of the country to Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Democratic Party remained in opposition until World War II.
After Davidović's death in 1940, Milan Grol took over the presidency of the party.
^Vucinich, Wayne S. (1969), "Interwar Yugoslavia", Contemporary Yugoslavia: Twenty Years of Socialist Experiment, University of California Press, p. 7
^Vucinich, Wayne S. (1969), "Interwar Yugoslavia", Contemporary Yugoslavia: Twenty Years of Socialist Experiment, University of California Press, p. 8
^Vucinich, Wayne S. (1969), "Interwar Yugoslavia", Contemporary Yugoslavia: Twenty Years of Socialist Experiment, University of California Press, p. 14
^Vucinich, Wayne S. (1969), "Interwar Yugoslavia", Contemporary Yugoslavia: Twenty Years of Socialist Experiment, University of California Press, p. 355
^ abVucinich, Wayne S. (1969), "Interwar Yugoslavia", Contemporary Yugoslavia: Twenty Years of Socialist Experiment, University of California Press, p. 15