Tomislav Ljubenović (Serbian Cyrillic: Томислав Љубеновић; born May 2, 1951) is a politician in Serbia. He is a member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party and is currently serving his fourth term in the National Assembly of Serbia. He previously served in the Assembly of Serbia and Montenegro from 2004 to 2006.

Private life

Ljubenović was born in Leskovac, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He is a professor of metallurgy.[1]

Political career

Early candidacies (federal and republic levels)

Ljubenović received the second position on the Radical Party's electoral list for the Leskovac division in the 1997 Serbian parliamentary election. The party won three seats in the area,[2] but he was not included in its assembly delegation.[3] (From 1992 to 2000, Serbia's electoral law stipulated that one-third of parliamentary mandates would be assigned to candidates from successful lists in numerical order, while the remaining two-thirds would be distributed amongst other candidates on the lists by the sponsoring parties.[4] It was common practice for the latter mandates to be awarded out of numerical order, and Ljubenović's position on the list did not give him the automatic right to a seat in the assembly.)

He sought election to the Parliament of Yugoslavia's Chamber of Citizens in the 2000 Yugoslavian general election, leading the Radical Party's list in Leskovac. The party did not win any seats in the division.[5]

Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2000, with the entire country becoming a single electoral division with members chosen by proportional representation.[6] Ljubenović received the sixtieth position on the Radical Party's list; the party won twenty-three seats, and he was not selected to serve in the new parliament. (From 2000 to 2011, parliamentary mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for mandates to be awarded out of numerical order.[7] Ljubenović could have been awarded a mandate despite his relatively low position, but he was not.)

National and Federal representative

Ljubenović received the forty-sixth position on the Radical Party's list for the 2003 parliamentary election. The party won eighty-two seats, emerging as the largest party in the assembly but still falling well short of a majority; it served in opposition in the parliament that followed.[8] Ljubenović was on this occasion selected for an assembly mandate and took his seat when parliament met on January 27, 2004.[9]

His first term in the National Assembly proved brief. By virtue of its performance in the election, the Radical Party won the right to nominate thirty members to the federal Assembly of Serbia and Montenegro. Ljubenović was selected as part of his party's delegation to this body on February 12, 2004, and so resigned his seat in the Serbian assembly.[10] He served in the federal assembly for two years; it ceased to exist in 2006, when Montenegro declared independence.

Member of the National Assembly

Ljubenović was included on the Radical Party's electoral list for the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election.[11] The party won eighty-one seats, remaining the largest single party in the assembly but also remaining in opposition. Ljubenović was again chosen to serve in the party's assembly delegation.[12] He was later returned to a third term following the 2008 election and served in opposition to Mirko Cvetković's government over the next four years.[13]

The Radical Party experienced a serious internal division in late 2008, with several leading members joining the breakaway Serbian Progressive Party under the leadership of Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić. Ljubenović remained with the Radicals.

Serbia's electoral system was again reformed in 2011, such that parliamentary mandates were awarded in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. Ljubenović was given the sixteenth position on the Radical Party's list for the 2012 Serbian parliamentary election.[14] The party did not, on this occasion, cross the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly. He was promoted to the tenth position in the 2014 election, in which the party again failed to win any seats.[15]

The Radicals returned to parliament with the 2016 election, winning twenty-two mandates. Ljubenović, who received the eleventh position on the party's list, was accordingly re-elected.[16] He currently serves on the parliamentary committee on the economy, regional development, trade, tourism, and energy; is a deputy member of the agriculture, forestry, and water management committee; and is a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Slovakia.[17]

Municipal politics

In addition to serving in the National Assembly, Ljubenović is also the leader of the Radical Party group in the Leskovac municipal assembly, of which he is a long-serving member.[18][19] In 2011, it was reported that he faced misdemeanour charges after punching a fellow councillor who had resigned from the Radical Party.[20]

References

  1. ↑ TOMISLAV LJUBENOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 1 November 2017.
  2. ↑ ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (25 Лесковац) and Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997. године, Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997. године, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 1 March 2017.
  3. ↑ A complete list of Serbian parliamentarians elected in 1997 can be found at PRVA SEDNICA, 03.12.1997 (National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia), Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 1 November 2017. Ljubenović's name does not appear on the list.
  4. ↑ Guide to the Early Election Archived 2022-01-16 at the Wayback Machine, Ministry of Information of the Republic of Serbia, December 1992, made available by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, accessed 14 July 2017.
  5. ↑ "КАНДИДАТИ СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА ЗА ИЗБОР САВЕЗНИХ ПОСЛАНИІКА У ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Velika Srbija [Radical Party publication], September 2000, p. 14; ИЗБОРИ 2000: ВЕЋЕ РЕПУБЛИКА И ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (2000), p. 61.
  6. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 23. децембра 2000. године и 10. јануара 2001. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Српска радикална странка – др Војислав Шешељ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - др ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  9. ↑ PRVA SEDNICA, 27.01.2004 (National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia), Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 1 November 2017.
  10. ↑ О Д Л У К У - О ИЗБОРУ ПОСЛАНИКА СКУПШТИНЕ СРБИЈЕ И ЦРНЕ ГОРЕ Archived 2017-08-11 at the Wayback Machine, Народна скупштина Републике Србије, accessed 28 April 2017.
  11. ↑ He received the thirty-third position on the list. See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Српска радикална странка - др Војислав Шешељ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  12. ↑ 14 February 2007 legislature, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 1 November 2017.
  13. ↑ Ljubenović received the forty-seventh position on the Radical Party's list. See http://www.rik.parlament.gov.rs/arhiva-izbori-za-narodne-poslanike-2008.php 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; and 11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 5 March 2017.
  14. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - ДР ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 11 April 2017.
  15. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - ДР ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 11 April 2017.
  16. ↑ Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (Др ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ - СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 2 March 2017.
  17. ↑ TOMISLAV LjUBENOVIC, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 1 November 2017.
  18. ↑ SRS dobila nove mandate, Vesti, 29 January 2010, accessed 1 November 2017.
  19. ↑ TOMISLAV LJUBENOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 1 November 2017.
  20. ↑ M. Ivanović, "Odbornik radikala pesnicom udario bivšeg kolegu", Blic, 27 May 2011, accessed 1 November 2017.
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