Bratimir Vasiljević

Bratimir Vasiljević (Serbian Cyrillic: Братимир Васиљевић; born 12 February 1953) is a politician in Serbia. He is currently serving his second term in the National Assembly of Serbia. He has also been active in the municipal government of Niš and has served as mayor of the city's Pantelej municipality since 2016. Vasiljević is a member of the Serbian Progressive Party.

Early life and private career

Vasiljević is a graduated manager. He worked for the companies Zaječar and Prosveta in Belgrade before 1981, was the head of a sports equipment store in the same city from 1981 to 1989, and operated a private business from 1998 to 2008.[1]

Politician

Vasiljević appeared on the electoral list of the far-right Serbian Radical Party in the 2008 Serbian parliamentary election. He was not selected for a mandate.[2] The Radical Party experienced a significant split later in 2008, with several prominent members joining the new Serbian Progressive Party under the leadership of Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić. Vasiljević sided with the Progressives.

He was elected to the Pantelej municipal assembly in the 2012 Serbian local elections and was subsequently chosen as its president (i.e., speaker). He also received the twenty-ninth position on the Progressive list for the city assembly of Niš in 2012 and was not immediately elected when the list won seventeen mandates. He was given a city mandate in 2014 as the replacement for Ljubica Mrdaković Todorović and resigned from the Pantelej assembly not long thereafter.[3][4][5]

Vasiljević was given the 149th position on the Progressive Party's Aleksandar Vučić — Future We Believe In list in the 2014 parliamentary election and was elected list when the list won a majority with 158 out of 250 mandates.[6] He served as a backbench supporter of the government for the next two years and was not a candidate for re-election at the republic level in 2016.

Re-elected to the Pantelej municipal assembly in the 2016 local elections, he was subsequently chosen as president (i.e., mayor) of the municipality when the Progressives formed an alliance with the Radicals and the Democratic Party of Serbia.[7] He was again re-elected to the Pantelej municipal assembly in the 2020 Serbian local elections.[8]

Vasiljević received the sixty-fifth position on the Progressive Party's Aleksandar Vučić — For Our Children list in the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election[9] and was elected to a second term when the list won a landslide majority with 188 mandates. He contracted COVID-19 during the 2020 global pandemic, not long after being re-elected to the national assembly; his condition was serious, although he subsequently recovered.[10][11]

He is now a member of the assembly committee on finance, state budget, and control of public spending; a member of the committee on the judiciary, public administration, and local self-government; a deputy member of the committee on Kosovo-Metohija; and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Albania, Azerbaijan, the Bahamas, Belarus, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Comoros, Croatia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nauru, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Palau, Paraguay, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of Congo, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sao Tome and Principe, Slovenia, the Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, the United States of America, Uruguay, and Uzbekistan.[12]

References

1. Председник Општине, Municipality of Pantelej, accessed 23 July 2020.
2. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - Др ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017. He received the 134th list position. The Radical Party won seventy-eight mandates. From 2000 to 2011, mandates in Serbia were assigned at the discretion of successful parties, and it was common practice for the mandates to be awarded out of numerical order. Vasiljević could have received a mandate despite his relatively low list position, but in the event he was not.
3. "Treća funkcija za Vasiljevića", Južne vesti, 14 October 2014, accessed 23 July 2020.
4. "Vasiljević podnosi ostavku u Panteleju", Južne vesti, 17 October 2014.
5. ИЗБОРНА ЛИСТА КАНДИДАТА ЗА ОДБОРНИКЕ СКУПШТИНЕ ГРАДА НИША "КОАЛИЦИЈА ПОКРЕНИМО НИШ: СРПСКА НАПРЕДНА СТРАНКА, НОВА СРБИЈА, ПОКРЕТ СНАГА СРБИЈЕ - БК, ПОКРЕТ СОЦИЈАЛИСТА.", Izbori 2012, City of Niš.
6. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ALEKSANDAR VUČIĆ - BUDUĆNOST U KOJU VERUJEMO), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 January 2017.
7. "Vasiljević novi predsednik Opštine Pantelej", Južne vesti, 15 July 2016, accessed 23 July 2020. Vasiljević had received the lead position on the Progressive list in Pantelej in 2016. See ИЗБОРНА ЛИСТА КАНДИДАТА ЗА ОДБОРНИКЕ СКУПШТИНЕ ГРАДСКЕ ОПШТИНЕ ПАНТЕЛЕЈ (Коалиција Александар Вучић - Србија побеђује), Izbori 2016, City of Niš. The list won eleven out of twenty-three mandates.
8. Изборна листа АЛЕКСАНДАР ВУЧИЋ - ЗА НАШУ ДЕЦУ. and ОДЛУКА О ДОДЕЛИ МАНДАТА, Локални избори 2020, Municipality of Pantelej, accessed 23 July 2020. He received the second list position. The list won sixteen mandates.
9. "Ko je sve na listi SNS za republičke poslanike?", Danas, 6 March 2020, accessed 30 June 2020.
10. "U Nišu i Vranju preminuo po jedan oboleli od kovida, 18 pacijenata je na respiratoru", Danas, 21 July 2020, accessed 23 July 2020.
11. M.J., "Bratimir Vasiljević preležao koronu i apeluje da se poštuju mere", Jużne vesti, 12 August 2020, accessed 29 December 2020.
12. BRATIMIR VASILjEVIC, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 29 December 2020.