Dragan Bozalo (; born 1 February 1970) is a politician in Serbia. He has served in National Assembly of Serbia, the Assembly of Serbia and Montenegro, and the Assembly of Vojvodina, and was the mayor of Bačka Palanka for three terms. He is currently a member of the Municipal Assembly of Bačka Palanka. Bozalo is a member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (Srpska radikalna stranka, SRS).
Early life and career Bozalo was born in Bačka Palanka, in what was then the Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in the Socialist Republic of Serbia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He is a chemical technician in private life.Velika Srbija [Serbian Radical Party publication], Volume 7 Number 419 (Belgrade, September 1997), p. 15.
Politician Parliamentarian Bozalo became president of the Radical Party's municipal board in Bačka Palanka during the 1990s. He appeared in the first position on the party's electoral list for the Vrbas division (which included Bačka Palanka) in the 1997 Serbian parliamentary election and was elected when the list won three mandates in the division.ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (10 Врбас), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 2 July 2021.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 2 July 2021. (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 at the discretion of the sponsoring parties. Bozalo automatically received a mandate by virtue of his list position.)Guide to the Early Election , Ministry of Information of the Republic of Serbia, December 1992, made available by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, accessed 14 July 2017. The election was won by the Socialist Party of Serbia and its allies, and the Radicals initially served in opposition. The Socialists subsequently formed a coalition government with the Radicals and the Yugoslav Left in early 1998, and Bozalo served as a supporter of the administration.
The Socialist-led administration in Serbia fell after Slobodan Milošević's defeat in the 2000 Yugoslavian presidential election, and a new Serbian parliamentary election was scheduled for December 2000. For this election, the entire country was counted as a single electoral division and all mandates were assigned to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions, irrespective of the numerical order.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. Bozalo appeared in the seventy-first position on the Radical list.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 2 July 2021. The list won twenty-three seats, and he was not included in the party's delegation.
Bozalo was given the fortieth position on the Radical Party's list in the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election.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 2 July 2021. The party won eighty-two seats on this occasion, emerging as the largest group in the assembly but ultimately falling well short of a majority and serving in opposition. Bozalo was included in his party's delegation when the assembly met in early 2004,"Skupština čeka demokrate", Glas javnosti, 13 January 2004, accessed 12 July 2021. although his second term in the republican parliament was brief. By virtue of its performance in the 2003 parliamentary election, the Radicals won the right to appoint thirty members to the federal Assembly of Serbia and Montenegro. Bozalo was appointed to the federal assembly and so resigned his seat in the national assembly on 12 February 2004."Izbor poslanika u Skupštinu SCG", Glas javnosti, 12 February 2004, accessed 12 July 2021. He served at the federal level for the next two years. The Assembly of Serbia and Montenegro ceased to exist in 2006, when Montenegro declared independence.
Bozalo also appeared on the Radical Party's lists in the 2007 and 2008 parliamentary elections, although he was not included in its delegation on either occasion.Bozalo received the sixty-ninth position in 2007 and the 149th in 2008. 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 2 July 2021; and 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 2 July 2021. For his absence from the assembly, see 14 February 2007 legislature and 11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 5 March 2017.
The Radical Party experienced a serious split following the 2008 election, with several of its members joining the more moderate Serbian Progressive Party under the leadership of Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić. Bozalo remained with the Radicals.
Serbia's electoral system was reformed again in 2011, such that mandates were awarded in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. Bozalo appeared in the ninety-fourth position on the Radical party's list in the 2012 Serbian parliamentary election,Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - ДР ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 28 September 2020. the fifty-sixth position in the 2014 election,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 2 July 2021. and the 123rd position in the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election."Ko je sve na listi radikala?", Danas, 9 March 2020, accessed 2 July 2021. On each occasion, the party failed to cross the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly.
Provincial politics Bozalo sought election to the Assembly of Vojvodina for Bačka Palanka's third division in the 2000 Vojvodina provincial election.Velika Srbija [Radical Party publication], Volume 11 Number 1201 (Belgrade, September 2000), p. 6. He lost to Petar Pešić of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia.Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне Покрајине Војводине одржаних 24. септембра и 8. октобра 2000. године , Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia, accessed 5 April 2017. This was the last provincial election in Vojvodina held exclusively by voting in single-member constituencies; after the election, the province adopted a system of mixed proportional representation, in which half the delegates were elected in constituencies and the other half by proportional representation on electoral lists.
Bozalo was elected to the provincial assembly in the 2004 provincial election, winning the Bačka Palanka constituency seat in the second round. The Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS) and its allies won the election, and Bozalo served as an opposition member for the next four years. He was defeated in his bid for re-election the 2008 provincial election.
He appeared in the seventeenth position on the Radical Party's list in the 2012 provincial election and was not elected when the party won five mandates.Изборне листе за изборе за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне Покрајине Војводине (Изборна листа 4 - СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА-ДР ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ) - кандидати за посланике) , Избори 2012, Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, accessed 12 July 2021. Following this election, Vojvodina switched to a system of full proportional representation. Bozalo was given the twentieth position in the 2016 provincial election and missed election when the list won ten mandates.Изборне листе за изборе за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне покрајине Војводине (Изборна листа 6 - Др ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ - СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА) , Избори 2016, Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, accessed 12 July 2021.
Bozalo received the eleventh position on the Radical Party's list in the 2020 Vojvodina provincial election.Изборне листе кандидата за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне покрајине Војводине (Изборна листа 3 Др ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ – СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА) , Izbori 2020, Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, accessed 12 July 2021. The party won four seats, and he was once again not returned. It is possible, although unlikely, that he could re-enter the assembly in the current term as the replacement for another Radical Party member.
Municipal politics Bozalo sought election to the Bačka Palanka Municipal Assembly in the 2000 Serbian local elections, running in the twenty-seventh division.See Velika Srbija [Radical Party publication], Volume 11 Number 1201 (Belgrade, September 2000), p. 14. The Radicals did not win any seats in the assembly. This was the last Serbian municipal electoral cycle to have constituency elections; all subsequent cycles have been held under proportional representation.
Serbia introduced the direct election of mayors for the 2004 Serbian local elections. Bozalo stood as the Radical Party's candidate for mayor in Bačka Palanka and was elected over a candidate of the Socialist Party in the second round. He served for the next four years; during this time, the Radical Party also won a special off-year election for the municipal assembly in December 2005."SRS osvojila najviše glasova u Bačkoj Palanci", Mondo, 19 December 2005, accessed 12 July 2021.