History
The Party of Democratic Action was founded in May 1990 by Alija Izetbegović, representing the Bosniaks and other Slavic Muslim population in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Yugoslavia. The SDA party was the first Bosniak party of national orientation in Yugoslavia since the banning of the multiparty system in 1945 by the Communist Yugoslav Leadership. The party has its origins in the old Yugoslav Muslim Organization, which was the largest conservative Bosniak party in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
The SDA achieved considerable success in elections after the fall of communism in the early 1990s. It founded the newspaper Ljiljan. The party remains the strongest political party among the Bosniak population in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it has branches in Croatia and Serbia (Sandžak region).
The party was criticized during the Bosnian war by Serbian and Croatian politicians and some Bosniaks. On the other hand, unlike the treatment by members of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) and the Croatian Democratic Union (CDU) of minorities in their respective areas of control during the Bosnian War, the SDA party reportedly did not engage in organized persecution of Serbs and Croats in the areas under its control. Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches in Bihać, Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zenica and other cities remained intact throughout the war, compared to more than 800 mosques destroyed by the Croatian and Serbian nationalists.
In November 2000 the party was defeated by the Social Democratic Party and other parties gathered into the "Alliance for Change", and found itself in the opposition for the first time since its 1990 creation.
The party has branches in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo and the Republic of Macedonia. In Montenegro the party merged with smaller Bosniak and Slavic Muslim parties and created the Bosniak party.
The party is an observer member of the European People's Party (EPP).
Read more about this topic: Party Of Democratic Action
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