Meho Omerović () is a politician in Serbia. He served in the National Assembly of Serbia continuously from 2001 to 2018. Omerović is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Serbia (SDPS).
Early life and career Omerović was born in Goražde, then part of the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, and is of Bosniak origin."Serbian Radical leader ordered to leave assembly after fracas with DOS deputy," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 25 April 2001 (Source: RTS TV, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1730 gmt 24 Apr 01). His family were Partisans in World War II; his father was subsequently a professional truck driver and his mother a homemaker."Serbian Assembly member from Sandzak Democratic Party profiled," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 3 October 2007 (Source: Politika, Belgrade, in Serbian 1 Oct 07). Raised in Goražde, Omerović moved to Belgrade in 1978 and graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences in 1983 with a focus in international affairs.MEHO OMEROVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 7 May 2018.
Political career Politically active from a young age, Omerović worked for the presidency of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (CC SKJ) from 1985 until the infamous 14th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia in 1990.MEHO OMEROVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 7 May 2018. An opponent of Slobodan Milošević at the congress, he was subsequently a candidate of Vesna Pešić's Civic Alliance of Serbia in the 1992 Serbian parliamentary election, appearing in the thirty-third position on the party's electoral list in Belgrade.ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (6 Нови Сад) , Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 7 May 2018. The party did not cross the electoral threshold to win any mandates.
Omerović was a founding member of Social Democracy in 1997 and appeared in the second position on the party's electoral list for Kraljevo in the 1997 Serbian election.ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (21 Краљево) , Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 7 May 2018. Once again, the party did not cross the electoral threshold.
In 2000, Omerović emerged as a prominent critic of the Milošević regime, working organize anti-government rallies and to unite opposition parties into the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS)."Serb opposition parties to coordinate strategy," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Newsfile, 26 April 2000 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 26 Apr 00)."Serbian police turn back lorry taking PA system to opposition rally," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 9 May 2000 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 2216 gmt 8 May 00)."Police said blocking Belgrade access ahead of rally, British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Newsfile, 15 May 2000 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 15 May 00)."PRESS DIGEST - Yugoslavia - August 1," Reuters News, 1 August 2000.
Member of the National Assembly Social Democracy (2001–02) Serbia's electoral system was reformed for the 2000 parliamentary election, with the entire country becoming a single electoral division; as before, members were elected by proportional representation. Omerović received the ninety-fifth position on the Democratic Opposition of Serbia's list and was awarded a mandate after the list won a landslide victory with 176 out of 250 seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 23. децембра 2000. године и 10. јануара 2001. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Демократска опозиција Србије – др Војислав Коштуница (Демократска странка, Демократска странка Србије, Социјалдемократија, Грађански савез Србије, Демохришћанска странка Србије, Нова Србија, Покрет за демократску Србију, Лига социјалдемократа Војводине, Реформска демократска странка Војводине, Коалиција Војводина, Савез војвођанских Мађара, Демократска алтернатива, Демократски центар, Нова демократија, Социјалдемократска унија, Санxачка демократска партија, Лига за Шумадију, Српски покрет отпора – Демократски покрет) , Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 30 March 2017. (From 2000 to 2011, parliamentary mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates and were often distributed out of numerical order. Omerović did not automatically receive a mandate by virtue of his position on the list, but he was included in the DOS's assembly delegation all the same.)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. In April 2001, Omerović indicated that a deputy from the far-right Serbian Radical Party had used an ethnic slur against him in an assembly debate."Serbian Radical leader ordered to leave assembly after fracas with DOS deputy," British Broadcasting Political Monitoring European - Political, 25 April 2001 (Source: RTS TV, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1730 gmt 24 Apr 01).
Social Democracy split into two factions in May 2001, after Omerović and several others accused party leader Vuk Obradović of sexually harassing a female colleague. Obradović's faction attempted to purge Omerović from the party, without success."Serbian party says expelled members can no longer represent it in state bodies," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 9 May 2001 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 0718 gmt 9 May 01). Omerović became secretary of the anti-Obradović faction and successfully petitioned the Serbian justice ministry to recognize Slobodan Orlić as party leader pending a resolution as to which group held the legal right to the name."Serbian Justice Ministry approves change of DOS party leader," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 17 August 2001 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1106 gmt 17 Aug 01). In April 2002, Omerović's wing of Social Democracy merged into a new group called the Social Democratic Party (not to be confused with another party of the same name founded in 2014).
Social Democratic Party (2002–07) In May 2002, Omerović represented the Social Democratic Party in talks between the DOS and the Kosovo Serb Return Coalition on the latter's future in Kosovo politics."Serbian ruling bloc, Kosovo Serb coalition agree on coalition's organization," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 16 May 2002 (Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in English 0743 gmt 16 May 02). He later advocated for the Democratic Opposition of Serbia to support Dragoljub Mićunović in the December 2002 Serbian presidential election. (Mićunović did not run in this campaign, although he was a candidate in the subsequent 2003 election.)"Serbian parties expect DOS to field presidential candidate, back Micunovic," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 12 November 2002 (Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in English 1237 gmt 12 Nov 02).
Omerović chaired the Serbian assembly's committee for inter-ethnic relations in 2003. In August of that year, he stated that Albanian terrorist groups in Kosovo were undertaking ethnic cleansing against Serbs and other non-Albanians and urged the United Nations Security Council to take meaningful action to ensure "the disarmament of all those who have weapons and unlawfully carry them, as well as the undertaking of measures to protect all ethnic communities, especially the Serbs.""Serbian official urges UN to re-examine results so far in Kosovo," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 18 August 2003 (Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1018 gmt 18 Aug 03).
The Social Democratic Party contested the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election as part of an alliance led by the G17 Plus party. Omerović received the 163rd position on the alliance's electoral list (which was mostly arranged in alphabetical order) and, when the list won thirty-four mandates, was one of three Social Democratic Party candidates selected to serve in the assembly.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Г17 ПЛУС - МИРОЉУБ ЛАБУС) , Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 15 October 2018.
"G17 Plus selects 34 deputies to represent party in Serbia's new assembly," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 8 January 2004 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1118 gmt 8 Jan 04). The following month, he announced that the Social Democratic Party members would leave the G17 Plus parliamentary group to sit as independents, although he rejected the suggestion that this was due to a rift between the parties."Serbia: SDP representative denies party in disagreement with G17 Plus," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 21 February 2004 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1815 gmt 20 Feb 04). In the same interview, Omerović stated that two other members of the Social Democratic Party had declined mandates due to a controversial decision on the National Bank of Serbia governor and council. The SDP initially aligned itself with G17 Plus in supporting the coalition government led by Vojislav Koštunica.
Omerović continued to serve on the assembly committee for inter-ethnic relations in the new parliament. He defended of the rights Kosovo Serbs following the 2004 ethnic unrest in the disputed territory."Serbian official sees shift in international position on Kosovo," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 24 April 2004 (Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in English 1632 gmt 23 Apr 04).
In December 2004, the three Social Democratic Party MPs and the delegates of the Socialist Party of Serbia were the only assembly members to vote against a bill granting the same rights to Chetnik as to Partisan World War II veterans."Non-Serbs have no right to speak about Serbian history - ruling party MP," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 17 December 2004 (Source: Radio B92 text web site, Belgrade, in Serbian 0800 gmt 17 Dec 04). These two parties later took part in negotiations for a merger; during this time, Omerović recommended that the new party take the name of the Social Democratic Party, as the Socialist Party name was tarnished by its association with the Milošević era."Serbia: Party merger seen as Covic effort to regain control of socialist party," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 30 July 2005 (Source: Glas javnosti, Belgrade, in Serbian 27 Jul 05 p 2). Ultimately, the merger did not happen.
The Social Democratic Party refused to support the Koštunica government's bills on pensions and oil industry in August 2005, and Omerović, along with one of his SDP colleagues, moved into opposition (the third SDP deputy continued to support the government and left the party). In December of the same year, both SDP members joined a new parliamentary group called "For European Serbia.""New Serbian Assembly floor group established," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 22 December 2005. From the opposition benches, Omerović spoke against the Koštunica government's privatization agenda."Democratic Party, Radicals press for early Serbian elections," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 1 June 2006 (Source: Radio Belgrade in Serbian 1300 gmt 1 Jun 06).
Sandžak Democratic Party (2007–09)