Workers' Party

A political party in Serbia. It is led by Željko Veselinović, a member of the National Assembly of Serbia formerly affiliated with the Party of Freedom and Justice, founded in 2026. The RP is represented in the National Assembly and Assembly of Vojvodina. It is affiliated with the Serbian Progressive Party.

Željko Veselinović is the president of the United Trade Unions of Serbia "Sloga" who was elected to the National Assembly of Serbia on the quota of the Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP) in the 2023 Serbian parliamentary election. Together with Đorđo Đorđić, he left the SSP parliamentary group in October 2024. Veselinović and Đorđić announced the formation of the new Workers' Party (RP), with Veselinović stating that he believes that no political party in Serbia truly concentrates on workers' rights. They were followed by MPs Sonja Pernat and Irena Živković on 19 November. Together they formed a parliamentary group in the National Assembly. The RP began collecting signatures in December 2024. The opposition Serbia Centre political party alleged that the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) helped the RP collect signatures needed for the registration of the party in Leskovac. Veselinović denied this.

The RP was officially formed on 6 February 2026. Members of the Sloga parliamentary group took part in the negotations related to early parliamentary elections, led by president of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić in April. In response to this, Pernat and Slavica Radovanović left their parliamentary group. Veselinović went on to form a parliamentary group with the pro-government parties Russian Party and United Peasant Party soon after. Veselinović claims that their cooperation is on technical and practical level. On 27 April, the RP was registered as a political party. Veselinović said that their path to registering the party was obstructed by both the government and the opposition.

The RP announced their participation in the parliamentary elections, as well as the creation of local boards and a broad coalition for the elections. It has denied participating in the coalition electoral list led by the SNS. Despite this, Branislava Pandurov, who serves in the City Assembly of Novi Sad, is part of the SNS-led parliamentary group, but claims the cooperation is only on technical terms. The RP initially negotiated with We – Power of the People of Branimir Nestorović on participating together in the parliamentary elections, but abandoned it after the party allegedly wanted to recruit RP members into its own party. In September, RP announced that it would participate on the SNS-led electoral list United Serbia for the 2026 parliamentary elections.

The RP declares itself to be in favour of expanding the rights of workers, pensioners, farmers, and students. They drafted a new Labour Law, which would bring a 35-hour workweek in Serbia. The RP declares itself to be Eurosceptic while still supporting the accession of Serbia to the European Union, partly due to its perceived respect for human and workers' rights. It opposes the recognition of Kosovo, while supporting retaining ties with Russia and especially China. Veselinović criticised neoliberalism and endorsed left-wing policies. While still in formation, the RP denied that it would cooperate with the SNS. Their MPs also announced that they would vote against the formation of the cabinet of Đuro Macut.

Vladimir Pejić of Faktor Plus and Đorđe Vukadinović of Nova srpska politička misao argued that there was a political space for a workers' rights party, though the newspaper Danas noted that the relatively minor Party of the Radical Left exists. The political scientist Zoran Stojiljković stated that the founders have to be cautious due to the failed experiment of the Labour Party of Serbia (LPS), reminding that it received less votes in the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election than it collected for it to be registered as a political party. In an interview with Danas, Veselinović, however, said that the RP will not follow the failures of the LPS, which was the political arm of the Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions.

The RP has said that they would support the SNS, or any other government, if it were to introduce a new Labour Law.

President: Željko Veselinović