Movement of Workers and Peasants

The Movement of Workers and Peasants (Serbian: Покрет Радника и Сељака, romanized: Pokret radnika i seljaka, PRS) was a left-wing political party in Serbia. It was founded in October 2011 by Zoran Dragišić and appears to have become inactive following the 2014 Serbian parliamentary election.

Origins

Dragišić had previously been the leader of a small party called the Independent Social Democrats (Nezavisni Socijaldemokrata, NSD), which had merged into the newly formed Social Democratic Party of Serbia (Socijaldemokratska partija Srbije, SDPS) in 2009.[1][2] He later became disappointed with the SDPS's direction and left the party to form a new organization.

He was chosen as the leader of the Movement of Workers and Peasants at the party's founding convention in October 2011. At the time, he indicated that the party's purpose would be to "give the state back to the people" and noted that it was supported by a number of worker organizations, including Serbia's Union of Raspberry Producers, the Farmers' Association, and the Pig Breeders of Srem and Mačva.[3]

2012 Serbian elections

Dragišić ran as the PRS's candidate in the 2012 Serbian presidential election. During the campaign, he pledged to use "all the state power, including the military, to break the backbone of organized crime, corruption and monopoly system in Serbia."[4] He received 60,116 votes (1.54%) in the first round of balloting, finishing tenth.[5] He also led the party's electoral list in the concurrent parliamentary election.[6][7] The party received 57,199 votes (1.46%) and did not cross the electoral threshold to enter parliament.

The PRS also ran in a number of jurisdictions in the 2012 Serbian local elections.

Later developments

In 2013, the PRS group in Arilje joined the United Regions of Serbia.[8]

The PRS encouraged its supporters to vote for the Serbian Progressive Party (Srpska napredna stranka, SNS) in the 2014 Serbian parliamentary election. Dragišic said that Progressive Party leader and prime minister Aleksandar Vučić deserved to be returned to office for his work in fighting corruption and organized crime.[9] It is not clear if the party continued to exist after this time.

Dragišić was elected to the National Assembly of Serbia in the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election as a non-party candidate on the Progressive Party's list.[10] He was re-elected in the 2020 parliamentary election, once again as a non-party candidate. Former PRS candidate Zoran Tomić was also elected to the national assembly in 2020 as a member of the Progressive Party.[11][12]

References
  1. "Chairman of newly formed Serbian party outlines programme, supports DS's Tadic," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 23 January 2008 (Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1259gmt 23 Jan 08).
  2. Thomas C. Muller, Judith F. Isacoff, and Tom Lansford, eds., Political Handbook of the World 2012, p. 1255.
  3. "Serbian paper profiles newly formed Peasants', Workers' Union party," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 7 November 2011 (Source: Danas website, Belgrade, in Serbian 2 Nov 11).
  4. "Zoran Dragišić predsednički kandidat". Radio Television of Serbia, 6 April 2012, accessed 19 April 2017.
  5. Избори за председника Републике, одржани 6. и 20. маја 2012. године (Извештај о коначним резултатима поновљеног гласања за избор председника Републике одржаног 20. маја 2012. године), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 19 April 2017.
  6. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (12 ПОКРЕТ РАДНИКА И СЕЉАКА), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 11 February 2021.
  7. "Pokret radnika i seljaka predao listu", Radio Television of Serbia, 10 April 2012, accessed 11 February 2022.
  8. "Pokret radnika i seljaka u URS-u", Radio Television of Serbia, 28 March 2013, accessed 11 February 2022.
  9. Pokret radnika i seljaka podržaće listu Aleksandra Vučića, Blic (Source: Beta), 10 February 2014, accessed 19 April 2017.
  10. Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (1 АЛЕКСАНДАР ВУЧИЋ - СРБИЈА ПОБЕЂУЈЕ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 11 February 2022.
  11. "Ko je sve na listi SNS za republičke poslanike?", Danas, 6 March 2020, accessed 30 June 2020.
  12. Current Legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 11 February 2022.
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