Toplica Đorđević (Serbian Cyrillic: Топлица Ђорђевић; born 13 January 1954) is a former politician in Serbia. He was a leading figure in the city government of Niš in the early 2000s, and has also served in the assemblies of Serbia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. During his time as an elected official, Đorđević was a member of the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS).

Early life and private career

Đorđević was born in Ražanj, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He was raised in Niš and graduated from the University of Niš Faculty of Electrical Engineering in the department of informatics and automation.[1]

Politician

During the Miloševic years (1990–2000)

Đorđević ran as a candidate of the Serbian Renewal Movement (Srpski pokret obnove, SPO) in Niš's second division in the 1990 Serbian parliamentary election. He was defeated by Mile Ilić of the Socialist Party of Serbia (Socijalistička partija Srbije, SPS), who was also the city's mayor.

He later joined the People's Party (Narodna stranka, NS), leading its electoral list for Niš in the 1992 parliamentary election and appearing in the second position in 1993. On both occasions, the party fell below the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly.[2] The People's Party merged into the DS in 1995, at which time Đorđević became a member of the latter party.[3]

The DS contested the 1996 Serbian local elections as part of the Zajedno (English: Together) coalition. The elections in Niš were extremely contentious, with Zajedno accusing the Socialist Party of undemocratic practices and voter intimidation. Zajedno won the election, but the city election commission attempted to falsify the results and award victory to the SPS; this was one of the key events in bringing about the 1996-1997 protests in Serbia, which threatened the SPS's overall hold on power. Đorđević was a leading organizer of the protests within the city.[4]

Ultimately, the Serbian government recognized the opposition's victory in Niš in January 1997.[5] Đorđević was among the Zajedno candidates elected to the city assembly and, after the coalition took power, was appointed as vice-president of the city's executive board, with responsibility for economy and finance.[6] In late 1999, he was responsible for coordinating donations of heating oil from various European Union countries to Niš.[7] He also organized protests against Slobodan Milošević's administration in the same period.[8]

The fall of Milošević and after (2000-94)

The DS contested the 2000 Yugoslavian general election as part of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Demokratska opozicija Srbije, DOS), a broad and ideologically diverse coalition of parties opposed to Slobodan Milošević's administration. Đorđević ran as a DOS candidate for the Yugoslavian assembly's Chamber of Citizens, appearing in the second position on the alliance's list in the Niš division, and received a mandate when the list won three out of five available seats.[9][10] Slobodan Milošević was defeated by Vojislav Koštunica in the concurrent Yugoslavian presidential election, a watershed event that prompted major changes in the political culture of Serbia and Yugoslavia. The DOS formed a coalition government in Yugoslavia after the election, and Đorđević served as a government supporter in the assembly.

The DOS also won a landslide victory in Niš in the concurrent 2000 Serbian local elections, and Đorđević was re-elected to the city assembly for the twenty-eighth division.[11] He was subsequently appointed as president of the executive board of the Niš municipality (i.e., one of the constituency entities of the City of Niš), as well as serving chairing the board of directors of Elektrodistribucija Niš.[12][13]

In early 2003, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was reconstituted as the State Union of State and Montenegro, with a unicameral parliament. The first members of this body were chosen by indirect election by the republican parliaments of Serbia and Montenegro; only members of the republican parliaments or the previous Yugoslavian federal assembly were eligible to serve. Đorđević was chosen as one of the DS's delegates to the new body.[14] In May of the same year, he was promoted at the local level to president of the executive board of the City of Niš (i.e., effectively the city's first minister).[15][16]

Đorđević was included in the 246th position (out of 250) on the DS's electoral list in the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election.[17] The list won thirty-seven seats, and he was subsequently included in the party's delegation when the assembly convened on 27 January 2004.[18] (From 2000 to 2011, all 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. Đorđević's list position had no specific bearing on his chances of election. By this time, the entire country was counted as a single electoral division.)[19] His term was ultimately brief; he was re-appointed to the federal assembly of Serbia and Montenegro on 12 February 2004 and so resigned his seat in the republican parliament.[20]

The DS was defeated in Niš in the 2004 Serbian local elections, and Đorđević stood down as president of the executive board shortly thereafter. The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro ceased to exist in 2006 after Montenegro declared independence. Đorđević has not returned to political life since this time.

Electoral record

National Assembly of Serbia

1990 Serbian parliamentary election
Member for Niš II[21][22]
Dr. Zoran Aranđelović Party of Independent Democrats of Serbia
Ivan Loki Dinčić Citizens' Group
Toplica Đorđević Serbian Renewal Movement
Dr. Rajko Đurić Democratic Party
Dr. Živorad Zlatković Party of Independent Businessmen and Peasants
Mile Ilić Socialist Party of Serbia Elected
Zoran Krasić People's Radical Party
Dr. Petko Stojanović Citizens' Group
Svetomir Stošić Yugoslav Socialist Democratic Party

References

  1. ↑ Потпредседник за привреду и финансије, Archived 2000-03-10 at the Wayback Machine, City of Niš, accessed 12 December 2021.
  2. ↑ For the 1992 election information, see See ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (5 Ниш) and Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 20. и 27. децембра 1992. године и 3. јануара 1993. године, Republika Srbija – Republička izborna komisija, accessed 12 December 2021. The People's Party ran in an alliance with the Royalist Blok in 1992. For the 1993 information, see ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (5 Ниш) and Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 19. и 26. децембра 1993. године и 5. јануара 1994. године, Republika Srbija – Republička izborna komisija, accessed 30 July 2021.
  3. ↑ Robert Thomas, Serbia Under Miloševic: Politics in the 1990s, (London: Hurst & Company), 1999, p. 255-256.
  4. ↑ "Fifty thousand opposition protesters celebrate New Year in Niš," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 3 January 1997 (Source: Radio B92, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1600 gmt 1 Jan 97).
  5. ↑ Thomas, Serbia Under Milošević, p. 309.
  6. ↑ Потпредседник за привреду и финансије, Archived 2000-03-10 at the Wayback Machine, City of Niš, accessed 12 December 2021.
  7. ↑ "Second EU fuel load for opposition Serb towns arrives in Nis," Agence France-Presse, 16 December 1999.
  8. ↑ "Opposition alliance expects Serbian Renewal Movement to join anti-government protests," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 18 December 1999 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1214 gmt 16 Dec 99).
  9. ↑ ГРАД НИШ ИЗБОРИ 24.СЕПТЕМБРА 2000., Archived 2000-12-11 at the Wayback Machine, City of Niš, accessed 12 December 2021.
  10. ↑ "Ko su poslanici", Vreme, 28 September 2000, accessed 23 July 2021. For this election, half of the mandates were awarded in numerical order and the other half at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions. Đorđević was not given an automatic mandate but was included in the DOS delegation all the same.
  11. ↑ Списак одборника, Archived 2001-04-19 at the Wayback Machine, City of Niš, accessed 12 December 2021.
  12. ↑ ИЗВРШНИ ОДБОР: Председник Извршног одбора, Archived 2004-07-10 at the Wayback Machine, City of Niš, accessed 12 December 2021.
  13. ↑ "Gerić je hteo rat i imaće ga", Glas javnosti, 26 April 2002, accessed 12 December 2021.
  14. ↑ "Poslanici nove države", Glas javnosti, 20 February 2003, accessed 12 February 2021.
  15. ↑ "Rokade u vlasti", Glas javnosti, 20 May 2003, accessed 12 December 2021.
  16. ↑ "Prekršen koalicioni sporazum", Glas javnosti, 29 May 2003, accessed 12 December 2021.
  17. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ДЕМОКРАТСКА СТРАНКА – БОРИС ТАДИЋ), Republika Srbija – Republička izborna komisija, accessed 2 July 2021.
  18. ↑ PRVA SEDNICA, 27.01.2004., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 12 December 2021.
  19. ↑ 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.
  20. ↑ ОДЛУКУ О ИЗБОРУ ПОСЛАНИКА СКУПШТИНЕ СРБИЈЕ И ЦРНЕ ГОРЕ, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 12 February 2004, accessed 12 December 2021.
  21. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 9. и 23. децембра 1990. године (Листе кандидата за народне посланике Народне скупштине Републике Србије, по изборним јединицама), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  22. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 9. и 23. децембра 1990. године (Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије 9. и 23. децембра 1990. године), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
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