The Democratic Socialist Party (, abbr. DSP) was a short-lived political party in Serbia. It was established in November 2000 by former members of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). The party's leader was Milorad VuÃÂeliÃÂ.
The Socialist Party of Serbia, which was the dominant political force in Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia between 1990 and 2000, lost its hold on power after the defeat of party leader Slobodan Miloà ¡eviàin the 2000 Yugoslavian presidential election and his subsequent downfall in the 5 October Revolution. The party entered an internal crisis after this time, and on 17 October 2000 several formally prominent SPS figures, including VuÃÂeliÃÂ, called for Miloà ¡eviÃÂ's removal as leader. Their efforts were unsuccessful; Miloà ¡eviàwas able to consolidate his control over the party organization and remained as SPS leader until his death in 2006.
VuÃÂeliÃÂ founded the Democratic Socialist Party on 17 November 2000. Its members included several other former Socialists, most notably Borisav JoviÃÂ. In announcing the party's formation, VuÃÂeliÃÂ was quoted as saying, "Unfortunately, the fate of the SPS is in the hands of the leadership that has caused great damage to it so far. With that leadership, there will not be too many voters and too many people left in the party." He described the DSP as a "modern democratic party with a leftist, socialist orientation" and said that he was open to working with other leftist democratic parties.
The DSP fielded its own electoral list in the 2000 Serbian parliamentary election, with JoviÃÂ in the lead position and VuÃÂeliÃÂ in second place. The list also included prominent former Socialists such as Slobodan BabiÃÂ and Radovan RadoviÃÂ. The party fared poorly, receiving less than one per cent of the popular vote and winning no mandates.
The DSP appears to have become dormant after this time, and it ultimately merged back into the Socialist Party in February 2003.