Mile Ilić (; born 27 July 1954) is a politician in Serbia. He was the leader of the local organization of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) in Niš in the early 1990s, during which time he also served in the assemblies of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He fell from power during the 1996–1997 protests in Serbia and largely remained out of the public eye in the decade that followed. Ilić returned to political life in the mid-2000s and served as president of the Niš city assembly from 2008 to 2016. He is a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia (Socijalistička partija Srbije, SPS) and continues to serve in the city assembly as of 2021.

Early life and private career Ilić was born in the village of Jovac in Vladičin Han, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He graduated from the University of Niš Faculty of Law, where he subsequently earned a master's degree. In 1999, during his time out of politics, he received a Ph.D. from the University of Kragujevac."Mile Ilić postao doktor", Glas javnosti, 30 July 1999, accessed 11 December 2021. He became an associate professor at the University of Priština in North Mitrovica in the same year and later served as head of the university's Department of Public Law. In 2008, he was hired as a full professor at the University of Niš. His academic focus is in the field of local self-government, and he has published widely in the field.ЗАМЕНИК ПРЕДСЕДНИКА СКУПШТИНЕ, , City of Niš, accessed 11 December 2021.

Before running for political office himself, Ilić worked as a political advisor in the inter-municipal regional community of Niš. He was also active with the Socialist Union of Working People at the local, republican, and federal levels during the time of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.Председник Скупштине: Проф. др Миле Илић, , City of Niš, accessed 11 December 2021.

Politician Parliamentarian (1991–96) Ilić was elected to the National Assembly of Serbia in the 1990 Serbian parliamentary election, the first to be held after the re-introduction of multi-party politics. The SPS won a majority victory in the election, and Ilić served as a government supporter. When the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was restructured as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, Ilić was also chosen as one of Serbia's first delegates to the Yugoslavian Chamber of Republics in the federal entity's new parliament.Službeni glasnik (Republike Srbije), Volume 48 Number 34 (27 May 2012), p. 1.

He did not seek re-election to the national assembly in late 1992 but instead ran for the Yugoslavian Chamber of Citizens in the December 1992 Yugoslavian federal election, appearing in the lead position on the Socialist Party's electoral list in the Niš division. He was elected when the list won five mandates.ИЗБОРИ '92: ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (1993), pp. 15, 36. The election was won by the SPS and its Montenegrin allies, and Ilić again served as a government supporter.

Ilić led the SPS's list for the smaller, redistributed Niš division in the 1996 Yugoslavian parliamentary election and was re-elected when the list won two mandates.Velika Srbija [Serbian Radical Party publication], Number 156 (October 1996), p. 3.ИЗБОРИ '96: ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (1996), p. 57.

By his own acknowledgement, Ilić was associated with the SPS's hardline wing. In early 1996, following the signing of the Dayton Accords, he nominated Serbian president Slobodan Milošević for the Nobel Peace Prize.M. Čekerevac, "Povratak Mileta Ilića", Politika, 19 December 2006, accessed 11 December 2021.

Ilić was often portrayed as a powerful political boss in Niš during these years, and he was sometimes accused of creating a cult of personality around himself through his control of the local media.Thomas, Serbia Under Milošević, p. 271. American journalist Chris Hedges, among others, depicted Ilić as having become a "widely unpopular" figure by late 1996 due to corruption and his association with Milošević.Chris Hedges, "A Former Stronghold Turns Against President of Serbia," The New York Times, 27 November 1996, p. 1.

Fall from power (1996–97) The SPS was widely accused of attempting to rig the 1996 local elections in Niš. During the campaign, Ilić hired security guards from the Serbian Kick-Boxing Association; these guards were accused of intimidating opposition politicians and their supporters. Even the Yugoslav Left (Jugoslovenska Levica, JUL), a party broadly aligned with the SPS, accused the local administration of abusing the democratic procedure.Thomas, Serbia Under Milošević, p. 281. When the opposition Zajedno coalition won the election, the city's election commission refused to recognize the results and awarded the victory to the SPS.Thomas, Serbia Under Milošević, p. 286. This was one of the pivotal events in prompting the 1996–1997 protests in Serbia, which threatened the SPS's overall hold on power. Ilić disappeared from public view during the protests and resigned as leader of the Niš SPS on 4 December 1996, amid speculation that he was being scapegoated for the party's failures.Thomas, Serbia Under Milošević, p. 289."Socialist Party chief in industrial town resigns," Reuters News, 4 December 1996. In January 1997, the Serbian government recognized the opposition's victory in Niš; Ilić was expelled from the SPS at around the same timeThomas, Serbia Under Milošević, p. 310. and withdrew from political life in the city.

While online sources do not confirm this point, it may be reasonably inferred that Ilić also resigned his seat in the Yugoslavian assembly during this time (or, alternately, that he did not take his mandate following the 1996 election).

Ilić's membership in the SPS was restored in November 2000, after the fall of Milošević's administration. He welcomed the decision, saying, "I have always been a socialist and a leftist, and I never stopped being that, even when I was unjustly expelled.""Mile Ilić opet u SPS-u", Glas javnosti, 8 November 2000, accessed 11 December 2021. He did not initially return to active political life after returning to the party.

Political comeback (2006–present) Return to the national assembly (2008–12) Ilić returned to politics in the mid-2000s, receiving the twenty-third position on SPS's electoral list in the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election. By this time, he was aligned with the reformist tendency in the party. Interviewed by Politika about the events of 1996, he was quoted as saying, "Time has shown that I was right and that nothing attributed to me is true, so this is a kind of political rehabilitation, which would be said, at a high level."M. Čekerevac, "Povratak Mileta Ilića", Politika, 19 December 2006, accessed 11 December 2021. The SPS won sixteen seats in the election, and Ilić was not on this occasion given a mandate.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (11 Социјалистичка партија Србије), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 2 July 2021. (From 2000 to 2011, Serbian parliamentary mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for mandates to be awarded out of numerical order. Ilić could have been awarded a seat in the assembly notwithstanding his position on the list, although in fact he was not. The entire country was counted as a single electoral division by this time.)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.

Ilić again appeared on the SPS's list in the 2008 parliamentary election.Ilić received the ninetieth position on the list. See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (5 Социјалистичка партија Србије (СПС), - Партија уједињних пензионера Србије (ПУПС) - Јединствена Србија (ЈС)), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 2 July 2021. The list won twenty seats, and he was included in his party's delegation, returning to the national assembly after a fifteen-year absence.11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 11 December 2021. The overall results of the election were initially inconclusive, but the SPS eventually joined a coalition government led by the For a European Serbia coalition, which was dominated by the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS). Ilić again served as a government supporter in the term that followed and did not seek re-election at the republic level in 2012.

Member of the Niš city assembly (2008–present) Ilić led the SPS's list for Niš in the 2008 Serbian local elections and took a mandate after the list won seven seats.Lokalni Izbori 2008; Bureau of Statistics, Republic of Serbia; p. 133.Скупштина града, , City of Niš, accessed 11 December 2021. As at the republic level, the For a European Serbia alliance formed a coalition government with the SPS, and Ilić became president of the assembly.Председник Скупштине: Проф. др Миле Илић, , City of Niš, accessed 11 December 2021.

Serbia's electoral laws were reformed in 2011, such that mandates were awarded in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. Ilić again led the SPS's list in the 2012 local elections and was re-elected when the list won ten mandates.РЕШЕЊЕ О УТВРЂИВАЊУ ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ ЗА ИЗБОР ОДБОРНИКА СКУПШТИНЕ ГРАДА НИША 06. МАЈ 2012. ГОДИНЕ, Election Commission, City of Niš, p. 12.ЛОКАЛНИ ИЗБОРИ 2012., Bureau of Statistics, Republic of Serbia; pp. 149. The Socialists formed a new coalition government with the Serbian Progressive Party (Srpska napredna stranka, SNS), and Ilić was again confirmed as assembly president after the election, serving in this role for another four years.ПРЕДСЕДНИК СКУПШТИНЕ: Проф. др Миле Илић, , City of Niš, accessed 11 December 2021.

Ilić was again elected to the Niš city assembly in the 2016 local elections, in which the SPS list won eight mandates.ОДЛУКУ О ДОДЕЛИ МАНДАТА, Izbori 2016, Election Commission, City of Niš, p. 2. The SNS–SPS alliance remained in power in Niš, although with the SNS in a strengthened position; Ilić was reassigned as assembly vice-president and served in this role for the next four years.ЗАМЕНИК ПРЕДСЕДНИКА СКУПШТИНЕ: Проф. др Миле Илић, , City of Niš, accessed 11 December 2021. He led the SPS list to six seats in the 2020 local elections and continues to lead the party's group in the local assembly as of 2021.ОДЛУКУ О ДОДЕЛИ МАНДАТА, Izbori 2020, Election Commission, City of Niš, p. 3.ОДБОРНИЦИ СКУПШТИНЕ ГРАДА НИША, City of Niš, accessed 11 December 2021.

Electoral record National Assembly of Serbia

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