Žika Gojković () is a Serbian politician. He is currently serving his sixth term in Serbia's national assembly.
At one time a leading figure in the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), Gojković founded the breakaway Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia (POKS) in 2017. In late 2021, the POKS became divided into rival groups led by Gojković and former Belgrade mayor Vojislav Mihailović. For several months, both Gojković and Mihailović claimed to be the legitimate party leader. Gojković legally headed the party until 1 August 2022, when the Serbian ministry of public administration and local self-government ruled in favour of Mihailović."RIK proglasio izbornu listu Dveri i frakcije POKS-a koju predvodi Žika Gojković", Danas, 23 February 2022, accessed 23 February 2022. See also "Koalicija NADA: Vlast onemogućava POKS da učestvuje na izborima (VIDEO)", Beta, 16 February 2022, accessed 23 February 2022. Gojković joined the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in late 2023.
Early life and private career Gojković was born in Sombor, in what was then the Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in the Socialist Republic of Serbia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.ŽIKA GOJKOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 10 May 2017. He has a Bachelor of Management Studies degree in economy and was elected president of Sombor's sports association in 2014.ŽIKA GOJKOVIĆ, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 11 November 2016, accessed 12 February 2022.Vinko Janković, "SOMBOR: ŽIKA GOJKOVIĆ NOVI PRESEDNIK SPORTSKOG SAVEZA", srbijasport.net, 24 September 2014, accessed 10 May 2017.
Politician Serbian Renewal Movement Gojković chaired the SPO's Vojvodina provincial board for several years and was a party vice-president at the republic level."Žika Gojković novi-stari predsednik vojvođanskog SPO", Blic (Source: Tanjug), 22 November 2015, accessed 10 May 2017. See also "Serbian Renewal Movement re-elects chairman," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 14 May 2005 (Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1536 gmt 14 May 05).
Early candidacies Gojković was included on the SPO's electoral lists in the 2000, 2003, and 2007 Serbian parliamentary elections, although he did not receive a mandate on any of these occasions.Gojković received the twenty-seventh position in 2000, the forty-ninth in 2003, and the sixth in 2007. See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 23. децембра 2000. године и 10. јануара 2001. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (2 „Српски покрет обнове – Вук Драшковић" – Вук Драшковић), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024; Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (6. СРПСКИ ПОКРЕТ ОБНОВЕ - НОВА СРБИЈА - ВУК ДРАШКОВИЋ - ВЕЛИМИР ИЛИЋ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024; Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (7 Српски покрет обнове - Вук Драшковић), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024. In 2000 and 2007, the SPO list failed to cross the electoral threshold. The party contested the 2003 election in an alliance with New Serbia (NS) and won twenty-two seats; Gojković appeared in the forty-ninth position and was not chosen for a mandate. (From 2000 to 2011, assembly mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for the mandates to be assigned out of numerical order. Gojković could have been included in his party's delegation despite his relatively low position on the list, but ultimately he was not.)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 6 June 2021.
The SPO contested the 2004 Vojvodina provincial election as part of the Clean Hands of Vojvodina coalition. Gojković appeared in the eleventh position on its list, which did not cross the electoral threshold.РЕШЕЊЕ О УТВРЂИВАЊУ ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ ЗА ИЗБОРЕ ЗА ПОСЛАНИКЕ У СКУПШТИНУ АУТОНОМНЕ ПОКРАЈИНЕ ВОЈВОДИНЕ, 19. СЕПТЕМБРА 2004. ГОДИНЕ, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.
Parliamentarian For the 2008 Serbian parliamentary election, the SPO joined the For a European Serbia (ZES) coalition led by Boris Tadić's Democratic Party (DS). Gojković received the thirty-ninth position on the ZES list, which won 102 seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (1 ЗА ЕВРОПСКУ СРБИЈУ – БОРИС ТАДИЋ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024. On this occasion, he was given a mandate.11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 13 September 2022. The election did not produce a clear winner, but For a European Serbia ultimately formed a coalition government with the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), and Gojković served as a supporter of the administration. In his first parliamentary term, he was a member of the committee on constitutional affairs, the committee on youth and sports, and the committee on agriculture; a deputy member of the committee on defense and security and the committee on trade and tourism; and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Australia, Italy, and the Sovereign Order of Malta.ЖИКА ГОЈКОВИЋ, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 31 December 2011, accessed 12 February 2022.
Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that all parliamentary mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order.Law on the Election of Members of the Parliament (2000, as amended 2011) (Articles 88 & 92) made available via LegislationOnline, , accessed 6 June 2021. The SPO contested the 2012 parliamentary election in an alliance with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) called U-Turn (Preokret); Gojković received the thirteenth position on the alliance's list and was re-elected when it won nineteen mandates.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (4 ЧЕДОМИР ЈОВАНОВИЋ - ПРЕОКРЕТ Либерално демократска партија, Српски покрет обнове, Социјалдемократска унија, Богата Србија, Војвођанска партија, Демократска партија Санџака, Зелена еколошка партија - зелени, Партија Бугара Србије), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 10 July 2021. The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won the election and afterward formed a new coalition government with the SPS and other parties; the SPO served in opposition. Gojković was a member of the finance committee and the committee on the diaspora and Serbs in the region, a deputy member of Serbia's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA), and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Austria and the United States of America.ŽIKA GOJKOVIĆ, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 3 March 2013, accessed 12 February 2022.
The SPO joined the SNS's political alliance in the buildup to the 2014 parliamentary election. Gojković received the forty-first position on the SNS-led Future We Believe In list and was elected to a third term when the list won a landslide victory with 158 out of 250 mandates.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (1 АЛЕКСАНДАР ВУЧИЋ - БУДУЋНОСТ У КОЈУ ВЕРУЈЕМО (Српска напредна странка, Социјалдемократска партија Србије, Нова Србија, Српски покрет обнове, Покрет социјалиста)), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024. In the 2014–16 term, he was a member of the finance committee and the defence and internal affairs committee, a deputy member of the diaspora committee, the leader of Serbia's friendship group with Brazil, and a member of the friendship groups with France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States.ŽIKA GOJKOVIĆ, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 16 July 2015, accessed 12 February 2022.
He received the eighty-second position on the Progressive Party's Aleksandar Vučić–Serbia Is Winning list in the 2016 parliamentary election and was re-elected when the alliance won a second consecutive majority with 131 seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 24. април 2016. године – Изборне листе (1 АЛЕКСАНДАР ВУЧИЋ - СРБИЈА ПОБЕЂУЈЕ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024. The SPO did not win enough seats to form its own assembly group, and the party's delegates served in caucus with the Progressives.
In his fourth national assembly term, Gojković was a member (and later a deputy member) of the finance committee, a deputy member of the foreign affairs committee, once again the head of Serbia's parliamentary friendship group with Brazil, and a member of its parliamentary friendship groups with France, Georgia, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States.ŽIKA GOJKOVIĆ, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 3 May 2019, accessed 12 February 2022.
Local politics The SPO contested the 2004 Serbian local elections in Sombor in an alliance with the People's Democratic Party (NDS). The alliance won five seats; Gojković appeared on its list and was included afterward in the SPO's municipal assembly delegation."Sva skupštinska imena", soinfo.org, 8 October 2004, accessed 25 February 2022.Odbornici, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 23 June 2007, accessed 12 February 2022.In the 2004 local elections, the first one-third of mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order while the remaining two-thirds were distributed amongst other candidates at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions. See Law on Local Elections (June 2002) , Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 33/2002; made available via LegislationOnline, , accessed 7 April 2024. He was re-elected in the 2008, 2012, and 2016 local elections, although on each occasion he resigned his seat shortly thereafter.Službeni List (Grada Sombora)), Volume 1 Number 1 (4 July 2008), pp. 1, 5; Službeni List (Grada Sombora), Volume 5 Number 7 (21 June 2012), p. 111; Službeni List (Grada Sombora), Volume 6 Number 2 (18 February 2013), p. 23; Službeni List (Grada Sombor), Volume 9 Number 10 (8 June 2016), p. 72; Službeni List (Grada Sombor), Volume 9 Number 11 (23 June 2016), p. 144. He resigned his seat following the 2008 election on 4 July 2008, following the 2012 election on 16 February 2013, and following the 2016 election on 22 June 2016.For the 2008 local elections, all mandates were assigned to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions. See Law on Local Elections (2007), , Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 35/2000; made available via LegislationOnline, , accessed 7 April 2024.
Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia