Tadić was a member of the Democratic Party since its establishment in 1990, and has been their president from 2004 until 2012. After the downfall of Milošević, he was appointed in the government as the Minister of Telecommunications of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and would later serve as the first Minister of Defence of Serbia and Montenegro before being elected as the president in 2004. He was re-elected for his second term in 2008. Following his defeat in the 2012 presidential election and poor party ratings, he stepped down in November 2012, to take the position of the party's Honorary President. After a split with the new leadership in January 2014, Tadić left the Democratic Party and formed his own New Democratic Party (later renamed Social Democratic Party) for the 2014 parliamentary election.