Last modified: 2009-04-24 by ivan sache
Keywords: social democratic union of macedonia | socijaldemokratski sojuz na makedonija | star (yellow) | rose (pink) |
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Flag of SDSM - Image by Ivan Sache, 22 November 2006
See also:
SDSM succeeded in 1998 the League of Communists of Macedonia with a Social-Democrat
program. The party is member of the Socialist International. SDSM was the ruling party in Macedonia from 1992 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2006.
Branko Crvenkovski was the leader of the party until 2004; he was Prime
Minister of Macedonia during the ruling years of the SDSM and was
elected President of the Republic in May 2004. Vlado Buckovski,
appointed Prime Minister, succeeded him as the party's leader. The
party lost the last general elections held on 5 July 2006. On 28
August 2006, Nikola Gruevski, from the winning party VMRO-DPMNE, was
appointed Prime Minister. On 5 November, Radmila Sekerinska was elected leader of the SDSM,
following Buckovski's resignation. She plans to revamp the party image
and to return to social-democracy. Over the last years, the SDSM had
adopted more neo-liberal views.
There were two main secessions in the history of SDSM: in 1993, Petar
Gosev left and formed the Democrat Party; in 1999, Tito Petkovski left
and form the New Social Democrat Party.
Sources:
Ivan Sache, 22 November 2006
The flag of SDSM is described in the party statutes (page no longer online) as follows:
Article 5.
The Party shall own a round seal, of 3 cm in diameter, with a five-pointed star and a rose in the middle, subscribed to the edges "Social Democratic Union of Macedonia".
The party shall have a sign comprising a yellow five-pointed star, on a blue base, above which a red rose is positioned.
The Party flag shall have a rectangle shape, in blue color, with 1:2 dimensions, and a painted yellow five-pointed star in its left corner, with a red rose positioned above.
Ivan Sache, 22 November 2006
Flag of SDSM, variant - Image by Tomislav Todorović & Mladen Mijatov, 13 July 2007
On 16 September 2002, in TV-reports (Vesti u 10, Studio B channel, Belgrade, Serbia) from Macedonia about just proclaimed results of the parliamentary elections, a variant of the flag was seen in the streets of Skopje, carried by the party supporters who celebrated the victory. On this flag, the emblem was in centre of the field and smaller: the diameter of circumscribed circle of the star was about one-half of the flag height or a bit less.
Tomislav Todorović, 13 July 2007
Flag of SKM - Image by Tomislav Todorović, 20 January 2009
The flag and logo of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia were adopted in August 1990, when the League of Communists of Macedonia, its predecessor, adopted the name League of Communists of Macedonia - Party for Democratic Transformation (in Macedonian, Sojuz na komunistite na Makedonija - Partija za demokratska preobrazba). The first reports about the flag date from that time, but the images have appeared in the media in Serbia only in November same year, shortly before the first multi-party elections which took place the same month. The images were mostly showing the flag as it is today, but in a TV-programme about the election campaign in Macedonia a vertical variant was seen, with proportions 2:3 and the logo at the top; the rose was in vertical position, to conform with the flag shape, and had a much longer stem. This was the only time when I saw this variant of the flag, so it was probably not used very much. The horizontal variant, however, remained in use after the party adopted its present name in April 1991.
Within the first reports about this flag in Serbian media, suggestions appeared that its design was based upon that of the flag of the League of Communists of Slovenia - Party of Democratic Renewal, which was adopted in February and used until November same year (see FOTW image. There are striking similarities between two flags (field colour, yellow star near the hoist edge) which speak in favour of these suggestions, but the differences in design are also great, so this remains unverified until more details about this flag's creation are available.
Tomislav Todorović, 20 January 2009