Branka Karavidić () is a politician in Serbia. She served in National Assembly of Serbia on an almost continuous basis from 2008 to 2016, initially with the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS) and later with the Social Democratic Party (Socijaldemokratska stranka, SDS).
Early life and career Karavidić was born in Pančevo, in what was then the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in the People's Republic of Serbia, Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. She worked in technical preparation in the Majdanpek copper mine for twenty-six years and continues to live in that community.BRANKA KARAVIDIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 18 October 2018.
Political career Karavidić joined the DS in 1991. In 2005, she became the leader of the party's Majdanpek municipal committee and a member of its main board at the republic level. She also served as deputy mayor of Majdanpek for a term beginning in the same year.
Karavidić received the seventy-sixth position on the DS's For a European Serbia electoral list in the 2008 Serbian parliamentary election.Информације о одржаним седницама 2008. године (16. јул 2008. године) , Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 16 October 2018. The list won 102 mandates, and she was subsequently included in its assembly delegation.11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 18 October 2018. (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 parties to distribute their mandates out of numerical order. Karavidić's position on the list – which was in any event mostly alphabetical – had no bearing on whether she received a mandate.)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. After extended negotiations, For a European Serbia formed a coalition government with the Socialist Party of Serbia and other parties, and Karavidić served as a supporter of the ministry. She was a member of the assembly's committee on industry and of its parliamentary friendship groups with Croatia and Israel during this time.
Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that parliamentary mandates were awarded in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. Karavidić received the sixty-ninth position on the DS's Choice for a Better Life list and, as the list won sixty-seven mandates, was not immediately re-elected.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ИЗБОР ЗА БОЉИ ЖИВОТ- БОРИС ТАДИЋ) , Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 January 2017. She was, however, awarded a mandate on 30 July 2012 as a replacement for Ružica Pavlović-Đinđić, who had resigned.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године, ДОДЕЛА МАНДАТА НАРОДНИХ ПОСЛАНИКА (Одлука о додели мандата народних посланика ради попуне упражњених посланичких места у Народној скупштини од 30. јула 2012. године) , Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 18 October 2018."RIK dodelila novih 15 mandata", Radio Television of Vojvodina, 30 July 2012, accessed 18 October 2018. The Serbian Progressive Party formed a new coalition with the Socialists and other parties after the election, and the DS moved into opposition.
The DS experienced a serious split in early 2014, with former leader Boris Tadić setting up a new breakaway group that was originally called the New Democratic Party. This party contested the 2014 Serbian parliamentary election in a fusion with the Greens of Serbia and in alliance with other parties. Karavidić sided with Tadić in the split."Bela Palanka: Opštinski odbor napustio DS", Novosti (Source: Tanjug), 8 February 2014, accessed 18 October 2018. She received the twelfth position on the new coalition's list and was re-elected when it won eighteen seats.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) , Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 14 April 2017. The New Democratic Party re-constituted itself as the Social Democratic Party later in the year and continued to serve in opposition.
The SDS contested the 2016 parliamentary election in an alliance with the Liberal Democratic Party and the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina. Karavidić received the forty-second position on their combined list; this was too low a position for re-election to be a realistic prospect, and indeed and she was not re-elected when the list won thirteen mandates.Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (БОРИС ТАДИЋ, ЧЕДОМИР ЈОВАНОВИЋ - САВЕЗ ЗА БОЉУ СРБИЈУ – Либерално демократска партија, Лига социјалдемократа Војводине, Социјалдемократска странка) , Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 January 2017.
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