Nenad Konstantinović

Nenad Konstantinović (Serbian Cyrillic: Ненад Константиновић; born July 9, 1973) is a politician in Serbia. He was a prominent member of the student movement Otpor! in the late 1990s and early 2000s, later served in the National Assembly as a member of the Democratic Party, and has been a Social Democratic Party member of the assembly since 2016.

Early life and activism

Konstantinović was born in Belgrade, then a part of the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Trained as a lawyer, he served as vice-president of the Glavnog odbora Studentskog protesta group from 1996 to 1997 and was vice-president of Serbia's Student Parliament from 1997 to 1998.[1]

A vocal critic of Slobodan Milošević's government, Konstantinović became a founding member of the opposition group Otpor! (English: Resistance!) in 1998. In September of the following year, he issued the organization's "Declaration for Serbia's future," which called for the resignation of Milošević and "free and democratic elections for a constitutive assembly, under the rules and complete control of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe."[2] He also called for an alliance of "all Serbian democratic forces" around the goals of the manifesto.[3] Konstantinović later became involved in organizing Otpor's daily protests against Milošević in May 2000, arguing during this time that the regime would need to fall as a precondition for democratic change.[4]

Milošević and his allies fell from power in October 2000, and an alliance of opposition parties formed new administrations in both Serbia and Yugoslavia. Konstantinović helped operate a volunteer organization called the Service for Enforcement of Truth in this period, documenting abuses of power by Miloševic-era officials in order to initiate criminal prosecutions.[5] He urged Serbia's leaders to arrest Milošević,[6] although he acknowledged the difficulties prosecutors would face in this matter. "We don't have any documents with a signature," he said. "[Milošević] used to give orders by telephone to his cronies so you can only arrest people like Rade Marković and (former customs chief) Mihalj Kertes and press them to talk."[7] Following the arrest of Milošević, he urged the government to extradite him to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague.[8]

Political career

Konstantinović joined the Democratic Party in 1998 and was a member of the Assembly of the City of Belgrade.[9]

Otpor! became an organized political party in 2003,[10] and Konstantinović appeared on its electoral list in the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election.[11] The party did not receive enough support to cross the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly. Konstantinović was subsequently critical of Serbian prime minister Vojislav Koštunica's administration for including Miloševic-era officials.[12]

Otpor! merged into the Democratic Party in September 2004, and Konstantinović signed an accord with Slobodan Gavrilović of the Democratic Party to formalize the arrangement.[13] Konstantinović served on the executive of the Democratic Party from 2004 to 2008.[14]

Member of the National Assembly (Democratic Party)

Konstantinović received the 103th position on the Democratic Party's electoral list, which was largely organized in alphabetical order, in the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election.[15] The list won sixty-four mandates, and Konstantinović was included in the party's parliamentary delegation.[16] (From 2000 to 2011, parliamentary mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for the mandates to be distributed out of numerical order.)[17] The Democratic Party joined a coalition government after the election, and Konstantinović served as part of its parliamentary majority.

The Democratic Party contested the 2008 Serbian parliamentary election at the head of the For a European Serbia coalition. Konstantinović was again included in the coalition's electoral list and, when the list won 102 mandates, in the Democratic Party's delegation.[18] The Democratic Party and its allies formed government after this election, and Konstantinović again served on the government side. In January 2009, he replaced Tomislav Nikolić as chair of the parliamentary administrative committee.[19] In this capacity, he initiated the launch of an "e-parliament" for the assembly. He also led a working group reviewing the assembly's code of conduct in the same period.[20]

Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that parliamentary mandates were awarded in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. Konstantinović was given the sixty-fourth position on the Democratic Party's Choice for a Better Life coalition list in the 2012 election and narrowly won direct re-election when the list won sixty-seventh mandates.[21] The Serbian Progressive Party and its allies formed government after the election, and the Democratic Party moved into opposition.

Member of the National Assembly (Social Democratic Party)

The Democratic Party experienced a significant split after the 2012 election, with several members including Konstantinović joining the breakaway New Democratic Party under Boris Tadić's leadership.[22] This party contested the 2014 Serbian parliamentary election as a fusion party with the Greens of Serbia and in alliance with the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina, and other parties. Konstantinović received the twenty-eighth position on the alliance's list; the list won eighteen seats, and Konstantinović was not returned to the assembly.[23] The New Democratic Party later renamed itself as the Social Democratic Party.

Konstantinović received the tenth position on the "Alliance for a Better Serbia" list (a coalition including the Social Democratic Party) for the 2016 election and returned to parliament when the list won thirteen seats.[24] The election was again won by the Progressive Party and its allies, and Konstantinović again serves as an opposition member. He is currently the deputy chair of the committee on administrative, budgetary, mandate, and immunity issues; a member of the committee on spatial planning, transport, infrastructure, and telecommunications; a deputy member of the committee on the economy, regional development, trade, tourism, and energy; and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups for Croatia, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, Qatar, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.[25]

In 2019, Konstantinović, along with Marko Đurišić joined a new organization called Serbia 21. Boris Tadić, the president of the Social Democratic Party denounced this move and stated that the party was in the process of expelling Đurišić and Konstantinović.[26] In March 2020, Serbia 21 announced their participation in the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election as a part of the United Democratic Serbia coalition along with the Party of Modern Serbia, League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina, and the Civic Democratic Forum, and some national minority parties.[27][28] Konstantinović holds the second position on the list.[29]

Konstantinović has also served as a member of the municipal assembly of Savski Venac in Belgrade.

References
  1. NENAD KONSTANTINOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 30 September 2017.
  2. "Anti-Milosevic students adopt "declaration for Serbia's future"," Agence France-Presse, 28 September 1999.
  3. "Students present "Declaration for Serbia's future"," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 29 September 1999 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1450 gmt 28 Sep 99).
  4. "Resistance activist explains organization's goals, strategy," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 11 May 2000 (Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Serbo-Croat 1448 gmt 11 May 00).
  5. Olivia Ward, "Milosevic to face arrest in Serbia --- Domestic trial, not extradition, likely for former dictator: Officials<' Toronto Star, 26 December 2000, p. 1.
  6. Andrew Gray, "Students pressure reformers to arrest Milosevic," Reuters News, 10 March 2001.
  7. Joseph Kucera, "Milosevic faces arrest this week," South China Morning Post, 5 March 2001.
  8. "Analysis: Extradition of Slobodan Milosevic plays major role in whether Yugoslavia will receive foreign monetary aid," NPR Morning Edition, 21 June 2001.
  9. NENAD KONSTANTINOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 30 September 2017.
  10. "Resistance movement to become political party before next Serbian election," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 10 September 2003 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 0906 gmt 10 Sep 03).
  11. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ОТПОР) Archived 2017-07-26 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 30 September 2017. Konstantinović received the 103rd position on the list, which was organized in alphabetical order.
  12. Jovana Gec, "Questions arise about government ministers days after taking office," Associated Press Newswires, 5 March 2004.
  13. "Serbia: Popular Resistance Movement to join Democratic Party," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 7 September 2004; Katarina Kratovac, "Rebel group that fought Milosevic joins pro-Western Democratic Party," Associated Press Newswires, 8 September 2004.
  14. NENAD KONSTANTINOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 30 September 2017.
  15. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Демократска странка - Борис Тадић) Archived 2018-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 5 April 2017.
  16. 14 February 2007 legislature, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 30 September 2017.
  17. Serbia's Law on the Election of Representatives (2000) stipulated that parliamentary mandates would be awarded to electoral lists (Article 80) that crossed the electoral threshold (Article 81), that mandates would be given to candidates appearing on the relevant lists (Article 83), and that the submitters of the lists were responsible for selecting their parliamentary delegations within ten days of the final results being published (Article 84). See Law on the Election of Representatives, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 35/2000, made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 28 February 2017.
  18. Konstantinović received the eight-ninth position on the list, which was again largely arranged in alphabetical order. See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ЗА ЕВРОПСКУ СРБИЈУ - БОРИС ТАДИЋ) Archived 2018-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 5 April 2017.
  19. "Serbian opposition leader dismissed as parliament committee head," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 16 January 2009.
  20. NENAD KONSTANTINOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 30 September 2017.
  21. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ИЗБОР ЗА БОЉИ ЖИВОТ- БОРИС ТАДИЋ) Archived 2017-09-11 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 January 2017.
  22. "Konstantinović istupio iz DS", Blic (Source: Tanjug), 6 February 2014, accessed 30 September 2017.
  23. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (БОРИС ТАДИЋ - Нова демократска странка - Зелени, ЛСВ - Ненад Чанак, Заједно за Србију, VMDK, Заједно за Војводину, Демократска левица Рома) Archived 2018-05-06 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 14 April 2017.
  24. Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (БОРИС ТАДИЋ, ЧЕДОМИР ЈОВАНОВИЋ - САВЕЗ ЗА БОЉУ СРБИЈУ – Либерално демократска партија, Лига социјалдемократа Војводине, Социјалдемократска странка) Archived 2018-04-27 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 January 2017.
  25. NENAD KONSTANTINOVIC, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 30 September 2017.
  26. Vojvodine, Javna medijska ustanova JMU Radio-televizija. "Tadić: Đurišić i Konstantinović praktično napustili SDS". JMU Radio-televizija Vojvodine. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  27. "Srbija 21 ide na izbore: Znamo kako se pobeđuje i menja vlast". N1 Srbija (in Serbian). Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  28. ite.gov.rs. "120. седница Републичке изборне комисије". www.rik.parlament.gov.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  29. ИЗБОРИ ЗА НАРОДНЕ ПОСЛАНИКЕ НАРОДНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, 21. ЈУН 2020. ГОДИНЕ Изборне листе (УЈЕДИЊЕНА ДЕМОКРАТСКА СРБИЈА (Војвођански фронт, Србија 21, Лига социјалдемократа Војводине, Странка модерне Србије, Грађански демократски форум, ДСХВ, Демократски блок, Заједно за Војводину, Унија Румуна Србије, Војвођанска партија, Црногорска партија)), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 16 June 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.