The Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia (, POKS) is a monarchist and national-conservative political party in Serbia. It was founded in 2017 after a split within the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO).

In December 2021, the POKS split into two rival groups, respectively led by party founder Žika Gojković and former Belgrade mayor Vojislav Mihailović. Each group claimed to be the legitimate representative of the party."RIK proglasio izbornu listu Dveri i frakcije POKS-a koju predvodi Žika Gojković", Danas, 23 February 2022, accessed 23 February 2022. See also "Koalicija NADA: Vlast onemogućava POKS da učestvuje na izborima (VIDEO)", Beta, 16 February 2022, accessed 23 February 2022. The Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government concluded in July 2022 that Mihailović was the legitimate president of the party.

History

The Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia was formed on 3 June 2017, shortly after Gojković and others were expelled from the SPO after recommending that party leader Vuk Drašković step down from his position to become an honorary president."Isključeni funkcioneri SPO prave novu stranku", N1, 3 June 2017, accessed 22 April 2019."Žika Gojković: U Pokret obnove Kraljevine Srbije prelazi 80 odsto SPO-a", Blic (Source: Beta), 5 June 2017, accessed 19 October 2017. The new party was registered on 17 July 2017, and Gojković was chosen as its leader on 15 October 2017.

Prior to the split, Gojković was one of three SPO members serving in the national assembly. All three had been elected in the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election on an electoral list led by the Serbian Progressive Party (Srpska napredna stranka, SNS), and all served in caucus with the Progressives. Gojković remained a member of the Progressive caucus after leaving the SPO and, on becoming POKS leader, noted the party's good relations with the SNS and with Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić."Pokret obnove Kraljevine Srbije izabrao rukovodstvo", N1, 15 October 2017, accessed 19 October 2017.

On 12 October 2017, the Christian Democratic Party of Serbia (Demohrišćanska stranka Srbije; DHSS) merged into the POKS. President of the DHSS Olgica Batić stated full support for the Movement's primary goals - traditional values, preserving the family, the fight for Serbian farmers and the full membership of Serbia in the European Union.

The POKS briefly gained a second assembly member in May 2018, when independent delegate Nada Kostić, who had been elected on the Enough Is Enough list, joined the party.Ušla u Skupštinu kao član DJB, preko DS postala član POKS, N1, 15 May 2018, accessed 16 May 2018. Shortly thereafter, she left the POKS to once again sit as an independent member."I Žika ostao bez Nade", Novosti, 30 May 2018, accessed 3 July 2018.

The POKS contested the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election in an alliance called For the Kingdom of Serbia with smaller groups including the Monarchist Front and the Movement of Serbian Monarchists. Gojković was the list bearer, although he agreed to have Ljubinko Đurković appear ahead of him in the first position."Командант Кошара на челу листе За Краљевину Србију", Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia, 1 March 2020, accessed 19 August 2020. The list narrowly missed the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly.Monarhisti ipak ispod cenzusa i posle ponovljenih izbora, Danas, 2 July 2020, accessed 18 August 2020.

When the POKS was established in 2017, all three SPO members in the Assembly of Vojvodina joined the new party."ŽELE OBNOVU KRALJEVINE SRBIJE: Otcepljeni nose mandate SPO", Novosti, 13 June 2017, accessed 19 March 2021. The POKS subsequently won five seats in the 2020 Vojvodina provincial election. Its leader in the provincial assembly is Goran Ivančević.Assistant professor Goran Ivančević PhD, Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, accessed 8 April 2021.

On 26 January 2021, POKS and the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) signed an agreement on joint action and agreed on a joint political-program platform called the National Democratic Alternative. In early May, the National Democratic Alternative was formalised as a pre-electoral coalition.

December 2021 split On 23 December 2021, it was reported that the POKS presidency had met to remove Gojković from the office of president, on the grounds that his four-year term had expired in October. It was further reported that the presidency had dissolved the Belgrade board of the party for "inactivity" and instead appointed Vojislav Mihailović as commissioner.

Subsequently, POKS official Miloš Parandilović stated that the aforementioned meeting of the presidency had been illegitimately convened by a group of party officials seeking to carry out a coup. Parandilović said that, according to the party's constitution, meetings of the presidency can only be convened by the president or vice-president, rather than what he described as "a private group that deceives the public and makes decisions that are legally and morally invalid."

On 28 December, the group centred around Mihailović announced that Gojković and his leading ally Mirko Čikiriz had been expelled from the party. Gojković's allies rejected this. Gojković's group also stated that Serbia's ministry of public administration and local self-government had issued a certificate on 27 December identifying Gojković as the only legitimate representative of the party.

Both groups called election assemblies for early January 2022. The group centred around Gojković convened a meeting in Topola on 2 January, at which time Gojković was confirmed as party leader."POKS danas dobio jednog predsednika, a sutra će i drugog", Danas, 2 January 2021, accessed 2 January 2021. The rival group convened a meeting in Belgrade the following day and elected Mihailović as leader."Deo rukovodstva POKS: Vojislav Mihailović izabran za predsednika stranke", Danas, 3 January 2022, accessed 3 January 2022. Both groups contended that the other was illegitimate.

On 15 January 2022, Gojković's branch of the POKS announced that its alliance with the DSS had ended on the grounds of the latter party siding with Mihailović's group."POKS raskida koaliciju sa DSS: Srećan put, pijatelju", Danas, 15 January 2022, accessed 15 January 2022. Mihailović's branch of the party affirmed its alliance with the DSS later in the same day."POKS ostaje u koaliciji sa DSS", Danas, 15 January 2022, accessed 15 January 2022.

Gojković announced in February 2022 that his POKS group would contest the upcoming presidential, parliamentary, and Belgrade elections with Dveri."Dveri i frakcija POKS-а predvođena Žikom Gojkovićem sutra potpisuju koalicioni sporazum", Danas, 15 February 2022, accessed 15 February 2022.

Political positions POKS is a right-wing party, and advocates monarchism. It has been also described as national-conservative, and conservative. Regarding the European Union, it is eurosceptic.

It is generally further to the right than the SPO on issues of cultural identity. When the POKS was formed, founding member and former parliamentarian Mirko Čikiriz accused SPO leader Vuk Drašković of singling out crimes by Serb forces during the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s and ignoring the crimes of other sides."Čikiriz: Nismo za politicko oceubistvo, osnivamo svoj pokret", Blic (Source: Tanjug), 6 June 2017, accessed 18 August 2020. In the 2020 provincial election, Goran Ivančević described migrant refugees in Serbia as a "security threat" and said that the country should close its borders to refugees, including those whom he described as "jihadists."Коалиција ЗА КРАЉЕВИНУ СРБИЈУ (ПОКС, Монархистички фронт, Српски покрет монархиста) – Жика Гојковић, Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia, 28 May 2020, accessed 26 August 2020.

List of presidents of POKS #PresidentBorn–diedTerm startTerm end1Žika Gojković1972–15 October 20173 January 20222Vojislav Mihailović1951–3 January 2022Present

Electoral performance Parliamentary elections + National Assembly of Serbia Year Leader Popular vote % of popular vote # of seats Seat change Coalition Status 2020 Žika Gojković 85,888 2.77% 4th 1 ZKS 2022 Vojislav Mihailović 204,444 5.54% 4th 7 NADA 2023 191,431 5.16% 4th 1 NADA

Presidential elections + President of Serbia Year Candidate 1st round popular vote % of popular vote 2nd round popular vote % of popular vote Notes 2022 Miloš Jovanović 226,137 6.10% — — Supported Jovanović

Provincial elections + Assembly of Vojvodina Year Leader Popular vote % of popular vote # of seats Seat change Coalition Status 2020 Žika Gojković 34,083 4.21% 6th 5 ZKS 2023 Vojislav Mihailović 50,582 5.30% 4th 2 NADA

Belgrade City Assembly elections + City Assembly of Belgrade Year Leader Popular vote % of popular vote # of seats Seat change Coalition Status 2018 Žika Gojković 4,291 0.53% 12th 0 – 2022 Vojislav Mihailović 57,760 6.44% 5th 3 NADA 2023 56,415 6.13% 3rd 3 NADA 2024 Election boycott 3 NADA

References