Serb People's Party (better known as Serb People's Party in/on Primorje, Serbian: Српска народна странка у/на Приморју / Srpska narodna stranka u/na Primorju, "Serb People's Party in/on the Littoral") was political party in the Kingdom of Dalmatia during the time of Austria-Hungary.[1] [2]
Following the 1876 Dalmatian parliamentary election, the People's Party was in power. In 1878, led by Sava Bjelanović, the Serb members of the party left and founded the Serb Party. The Serb Party retained the leading position in the provinces of upper Dalmatia (Dalmatian hinterland): Kninska Krajina, Bukovica, Ravni Kotari, as well as the Bay of Kotor (which is today in Montenegro).[3] [4] [5]
A significant member of the Serb Party was Stjepan Mitrov Ljubiša. In his political efforts, he fought against the ethnic Italian domination in Dalmatian politics and culture, for the equality of religions and languages, for the emancipation of Serb populace in Dalmatia, the economic benefit of the province but also for the autonomy of Dalmatia and against the unification with Croatia-Slavonia. Stjepan Mitrov Ljubiša had been the President of the Dalmatian parliament between 1870 and 1878 when he was overthrown by the clerical Croat fraction in the People's Party led by Mihovil Pavlinović.