Democratic Party (Yugoslavia)
The Democratic Party (Serbian: Демократска странка or Demokratska stranka) was a liberal political party in Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Democratic Party (DS) was founded in 1919 after the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The Independent Radical Party merged with Croatian and Slovenian parties to establish the social-liberal DS. The elected president of the party was Ljubomir Davidović, also a president of the Assembly and a mayor of Belgrade. After his death in 1940, Milan Grol took over the presidency. The Democratic Party (DS) won the majority of votes in the first elections held in 1920, and until 1929 they were in and out of government (either independently or as part of a coalition). In 1929 King Alexander abolished the 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.
Following Yugoslavian occupation by Germany in 1941, most of the party leadership fled to England. The ones who stayed fought either along Chetniks or Partisans.
In 1945 the leadership returned to Yugoslavia, but the Democratic Party called for a boycott of communist-organized elections in the same year. After the elections the Communist Party led by Josip Broz Tito banned the Democratic Party. Its members were persecuted, with many, including Milan Grol, arrested and sentenced to long prison terms.
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