Party of Democratic Action

The Party of Democratic Action is a Bosniak nationalist and conservative political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

History

The Party of Democratic Action was founded on 26 May 1990 in Sarajevo, as a "party of Muslim cultural-historic circle". It was a realisation of Alija Izetbegović's idea of an Islamic religious and national party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many members of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including imams, took part in the party's foundation. Alija, who was chosen as its chairman, tried to resolve disputes between the Muslim nationalist Islamists led by Omer Behmen and the left-wing Muslims led by Adil Zulfikarpašić. The party has its roots in the old Yugoslav Muslim Organization, a conservative Muslim party in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Yugoslav Muslim Organization was a successor of Muslimanska Narodna Organizacija, a conservative Muslim party founded in 1906 during the Austro-Hungarian era. The Muslim National Organization was itself a successor of the conservative Muslim "Movement for waqf and educational autonomy" that goes back to 1887.
The SDA achieved considerable success in elections after the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. It founded the newspaper Ljiljan. The party remains the strongest political party among the Bosniak population in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In November 2000, the party was defeated by the Social [Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Social Democratic Party] and other parties gathered into the "Alliance for Change", and found itself in opposition for the first time since its creation. After the 2022 general election, the SDA became once again the largest party in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The party has branches in Slovenia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Croatia and the Sandžak region of Serbia. One of the goals of the party, outside Bosnia and Herzegovina, is to represent and defend the interests of Bosniaks and other Muslim South Slavs in the entire Balkan region. In Montenegro, the SDA merged with smaller Bosniak and Slavic Muslim parties to create the Bosniak Party.
The party is an observer member of the European People's Party.

Ideology

The Party of Democratic Action is the primary stronghold for right-orientated Bosniaks, especially for nationalists, and conservatives. The party has been also described as secularist by some researchers. Islamist ideologies exist in the party but tends to represent itself mainly among the elite apparatus of the party. The party supports the centralization of the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On foreign stances they also tend to be atlanticist and supportive of the accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to NATO and the European Union.

Elections

Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Year	Leader	#	Popular vote	%	HoR	Seat change	HoP	Seat change	Government
1996	Alija Izetbegović	1st	909,970	37.92		New		New
1998	Alija Izetbegović	1st	583,895	33.83		6		2
2000	Alija Izetbegović	1st	279,548	18.76		5		1
2002	Sulejman Tihić	1st	269,427	21.92		2		2
2006	Sulejman Tihić	2nd	238,475	16.89		1		1
2010	Sulejman Tihić	3rd	214,300	13.05		2		0
2010	Sulejman Tihić	3rd	214,300	13.05		2		0
2014	Bakir Izetbegović	1st	305,715	18.73		3		0
2018	Bakir Izetbegović	1st	281,754	17.01		1		0
2022	Bakir Izetbegović	1st	273,545	17.23		0		1

ImageSize = width:900 height:70
PlotArea = width:800 height:50 left:20 bottom:20
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1996 till:01/01/2024
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1996
Legend = columns:3 left:40 top:75 columnwidth:90

there is no automatic collision detection,
so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap

Colors=
id:Coalition value:green legend:Coalition
id:Opposition value:red legend:Opposition
Define $dx = 25 # shift text to right side of bar
Define $dy = -1 # adjust height
PlotData=
bar:Govern. color:blue width:25 mark: align:center fontsize:10
from:01/01/1996 till:22/02/2001 shift: color:Coalition
from:22/02/2001 till:23/12/2002 shift: color:Opposition
from:23/12/2002 till:12/01/2012 shift: color:Coalition
from:12/01/2012 till:31/03/2015 shift: color:Opposition
from:31/03/2015 till:25/01/2023 shift: color:Coalition
from:25/01/2023 till:end shift: color:Opposition

Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

there is no automatic collision detection,
so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap

Colors=
id:Coalition value:green legend:Coalition
id:Opposition value:red legend:Opposition
Define $dx = 25 # shift text to right side of bar
Define $dy = -1 # adjust height
PlotData=
bar:Govern. color:blue width:25 mark: align:center fontsize:10
from:01/01/1996 till:12/03/2001 shift: color:Coalition
from:12/03/2001 till:14/02/2003 shift: color:Opposition
from:14/02/2003 till:28/04/2023 shift: color:Coalition
from:28/04/2023 till:end shift: color:Opposition