Tomislav Stantić () is a politician, administrator, and medical doctor in Serbia from the country's Croatian national minority community. He was a member of the government of Vojvodina from 2010 to 2012 and was one of the province's four deputy prime ministers from 2011 to 2012, serving with the party G17 Plus.
Early life and career Stantić was born in Subotica, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, in what was then the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He finished primary and secondary medical school in Subotica, graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Novi Sad in 1995, earned a master's degree from the same institution in 2001, and later received a Ph.D. from the University of Belgrade. He has been a radiology specialist for more than twenty years and established the "Diagnostic Center Subotica" in 2005.Potpredsednici Vlade Autonomne Pokrajine Vojvodine, , Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, accessed 18 November 2021.Tomislav Stantić, Croatian Civil Association, accessed 18 November 2021.Doc. dr Tomislav Stantić, Faculty of Sports and Tourism, accessed 18 November 2021.
Politician Stantić appeared in the 215th position (out of 250) on G17 Plus's electoral list in the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (1. Г17 ПЛУС - МИРОЉУБ ЛАБУС), Republika Srbija – Republička izborna komisija, accessed 2 July 2021. The list won thirty-four mandates, and he was not included in the party's assembly delegation.27 January 2004 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 18 November 2021. (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 assigned out of numerical order. Stantić could have been awarded a mandate despite his list position, although in the event 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 28 February 2017. He later appeared in the fifty-fourth position on the G17 Plus list for the 2004 Vojvodina provincial election.РЕШЕЊЕ О УТВРЂИВАЊУ ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ ЗА ИЗБОРЕ ЗА ПОСЛАНИКЕ У СКУПШТИНУ АУТОНОМНЕ ПОКРАЈИНЕ ВОЈВОДИНЕ, 19. СЕПТЕМБРА 2004. ГОДИНЕ, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The party did not cross the electoral threshold to win any proportional mandates.
Serbia introduced the direct election of mayors in the 2004 local elections, and Stantić was the G17 Plus candidate in Subotica. He finished in seventh place; the winning candidate was Géza Kucsera of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians. Stantić also received the second position on his party's list in the concurrent election for the Subotica municipal assembly; the list won four seats, and, under Serbia's local election law at the time, he was given an automatic mandate.Službeni List (Opštine Subotice), Volume 40 Volume 39 (8 September 2004), p. 3.Službeni List (Opštine Subotice), Volume 40 Number 2.In the 2004 local elections, the first one-third of mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order. See Law on Local Elections, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 33/2002; made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 29 May 2021. He resigned from the assembly on 25 January 2005.Službeni List (Opština Subotice), Volume 41 Number 5 (17 March 2005), p. 1.
Stantić once again appeared on G17 Plus's list in the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election, receiving the 219th position.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (2 Г17 плус - Млађан Динкић), Republika Srbija – Republička izborna komisija, accessed 10 July 2021. The list won nineteen seats, and, as in 2003, he was not given a mandate.14 February 2007 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 18 November 2021. G17 Plus subsequently participated in the country's coalition government, however, and Stantić was appointed as a state secretary in the Serbian ministry of health. The party continued in government after the 2008 parliamentary election, and Stantić continued to serve in the health ministry until 2010.Tomislav Stantić, Croatian Civil Association, accessed 18 November 2021.
He was appointed to the Vojvodina provincial government as a G17 Plus representative on 15 June 2010, with responsibility for local self-government and inter-municipal cooperation."Tomislav Stantić novi pokrajinski sekretar za lokalnu samoupravu", Radio Television of Vojvodina, 15 June 2010, accessed 18 November 2021. His portfolio was restructured as "inter-regional cooperation and local self government" on 5 April 2011.Službeni List (Autonomne Pokrajine Vojvodine), Volume 67 Number 5 (15 April 2021), p. 117. On 1 June 2011, he was appointed as one of the province's four deputy prime ministers while also retaining his ministerial portfolio.Službeni List (Autonomne Pokrajine Vojvodine), Volume 67 Number 8 (1 June 2011), p. 326. G17 Plus did not continue in the provincial government after the 2012 provincial election, and Stantić's term ended that year with the swearing in of the new ministry.
Croatian community representative Stantić led his own electoral list for Serbia's Croat National Council in 2014 and was elected when the list won eight seats.Избори за чланове националног савета хрватске националне мањине, одржани 26. октобра 2014. године (електорска скупштина), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 3 November 2024. The election overall was won by a rival list led by Slaven Bačić.
Stantić called for Bačić to resign in 2015, due to the latter's silence on media reports linking the president of the national council's youth wing to a neo-Nazi organization. Stantić was quoted as saying, "Fascism is not a political issue, but a civilizational one. It is certain that the majority of Croats in Serbia and Vojvodina do not support anything that has anything to do with fascism and the Ustasha movement.""Sukobi u HNV zbog neonacističkih ispada Marija Vrselje", Blic (Source: Beta), 6 October 2015, accessed 18 November 2021.
In the face of ongoing divisions in the community, Stantić founded the Croatian Civic Association in February 2016. He was quoted as saying, "We had a community that was closed, I don't mean only Croatian but also other minority communities, and we saw that the best people within that community simply could not express themselves. We tried it in the Croat National Council, but it turned out to be impossible, because even for the best initiative you will always be outvoted.""Tomislav Stantić izabran za predsjednika", Hrvatska Riječ, 4 March 2016, accessed 18 November 2021.
He did not seek re-election to the Croat National Council in 2018. In 2020, Stantić accused Tomislav Žigmanov of misusing funds from National Council, the Institute for the Culture of Vojvodina Croats, and the journal Hrvatska Riječ. Žigmanov rejected the accusations."Žigmanov odbacio optužbe da zloupotrebljava sredstva namenjena Hrvatima u Srbiji", Danas, 21 September 2020, accessed 18 November 2021.
Electoral record Municipal (Subotica)
References