Marina Raguš (; born 8 July 1969) is a Serbian politician. She is currently serving her fifth term in Serbia's national assembly and has been one of its vice-presidents (i.e., deputy speakers) since March 2024.
Formerly a prominent member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS), Raguš joined the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in 2021.
Early life and career Raguš was born in Belgrade, in what was then the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. She has a bachelor's degree in political science and international relations.MARINA RAGUŠ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 7 January 2022. Raguš worked part-time for Studio B after her graduation.Marina Raguš, istinomer.rs, accessed 7 January 2022.
Politician Serbian Radical Party Early years (1996–2007) Raguš began volunteering with the Radical Party in the Belgrade municipality of Voždovac in 1996 and rose quickly in the party's ranks.Jasmina Lukač, "Marina Raguš: Spasiteljka", Danas, 25 February 2020, 7 January 2022. The SRS joined a coalition government in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in August 1999, and Raguš was appointed soon afterward as a deputy minister of information, working with Yugoslav Left (JUL) information minister Goran Matić."Milosevic shores up government with Serb nationalists," Agence France Press, 12 August 1999.MARINA RAGUS, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia], accessed 2 May 2024.
Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milošević was defeated in the 2000 Yugoslavian presidential election and fell from power on 5 October 2000, a watershed moment in Serbian politics. A new Yugoslavian ministry that did not include the Radicals took office the following month, and Raguš's term as a deputy minister came to an end. She ran for the Belgrade city assembly in Voždovac's tenth division in the 2000 Serbian local elections, which were held concurrently with the presidential vote, and lost to a candidate of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS).
The Serbian government also fell after Milošević's defeat in the Yugoslavian election, and a new Serbian parliamentary election was called for December 2000. Raguš appeared in the 172nd position on the Radical Party's electoral list and did not receive a mandate when the list won twenty-three seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 23. децембра 2000. године и 10. јануара 2001. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (1 Српска радикална странка – др Војислав Шешељ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 13 April 2024. (From 2000 to 2011, all Serbian parliamentary mandates were assigned to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions, irrespective of numerical order. Raguš could have been awarded a mandate despite her low list position, though ultimately she 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 13 April 2024.
In 2005, Raguš became an advisor for international relations in the Belgrade municipality of Zemun, where the Radical Party led a local coalition government.MARINA RAGUS, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia], accessed 2 May 2024.
Parliamentarian (2007–12) Raguš appeared in the sixteenth position on the SRS's list in the 2007 parliamentary election and was this time included in her party's assembly delegation after the list won eighty-one seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (4 Српска радикална странка - др Војислав Шешељ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024.14 February 2007 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 5 March 2017. Although the Radicals were the largest party in the parliament that followed, they fell well short of a majority and ultimately served in opposition. During her first parliamentary term, Raguš was a member of the foreign affairs committee and the committee on environmental protection.ДЕТАЉИ О НАРОДНОМ ПОСЛАНИКУ: РАГУШ, МАРИНА, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 January 2022.
She was given the twentieth position on the SRS's list In the 2008 parliamentary election and received a mandate for a second term after the list won seventy-eight seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (4 СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - Др ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024.11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 5 March 2017. The overall results of the election were inconclusive, but the For a European Serbia (ZES) alliance ultimately formed a coalition government with the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), and the Radicals remained in opposition. Raguš also appeared in the lead position on the SRS's list for Voždovac in the 2008 Serbian local elections, which were held concurrently with the parliamentary vote. The ZES coalition formed government in the municipality after winning twenty-four seats, while the Radicals won seventeen seats and served in opposition. Raguš did not, at this time, take a seat in the local assembly.Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 52 Number 13 (30 April 2008), p. 3.Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 52 Number 15 (12 May 2008), pp 1–2.Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 52 Number 25 (23 July 2008), pp. 2-3.For the 2008 local elections, all mandates were assigned to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions. See Law on Local Elections (2007), , Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 35/2000; made available via LegislationOnline, , accessed 7 April 2024.
In her second national assembly term, Raguš served on the foreign affairs committee and the committee for development and international economic relations.ДЕТАЉИ О НАРОДНОМ ПОСЛАНИКУ: РАГУШ, МАРИНА, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 January 2022. She was also a member of SRS leader Vojislav Šešelj's defence committee at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague during this time.Borba, 10 March 2008, p. 3.
The Radical Party experienced a serious split in late 2008, with several members joining the more moderate Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) under the leadership of Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić. Raguš remained with the Radicals. Her public profile was unexpectedly increased in April 2009, when she was the only SRS representative not expelled from a particular session of parliament.Borba, 7 May 2009, p. 6. Her performance in the assembly received a favourable response in the Serbia media, including from sources not normally inclined to support the Radicals.Jasmina Lukač, "Marina Raguš: Spasiteljka", Danas, 25 February 2020, 7 January 2022.
Raguš was considered a rising star in the Radical Party in this period, but she did not remain in this role for long. The ZES-led municipal government in Voždovac was unstable, and a new municipal election took place in June 2009. Raguš again led the Radical Party's list.Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 52 Number 26 (28 May 2009), p. 3. Weakened by the previous year's split, the party fell to only three mandates.Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 53 Number 31 (15 June 2009), p. 2. This time, she took a seat in the local assembly.Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 53 Number 40 (26 August 2009), p. 29. Post-election negotiations for a new municipal government were not successful, and yet another local election took place in December 2009. For this campaign, Raguš appeared in the second position on the SRS list.Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 53 Number 52 (25 November 2009), p. 5. The party continued to lose support and, on this occasion, fell below the electoral threshold for assembly representation.Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 53 Number 54 (7 December 2009), pp. 1-2. Raguš began withdrawing from SRS activities after this time, amid rumours that she was unhappy with the party's strategy in the local campaigns."Marina Raguš napušta radikale", Novosti, 18 October 2010, accessed 7 January 2022. The specific report referenced in the title of this article turned out to be untrue, at the time."Marina Raguš zaboravila da je poslanik", Novosti, 4 May 2010, accessed 7 January 2022.
She did not appear on the SRS's list for the 2012 Serbian parliamentary election. After the election, she said that she was no longer a member of any party. There were rumours that she would join the Progressives along with fellow disillusioned Radical Aleksandar Martinović, but this did not occur."Marina Raguš: Ni SNS, ni SRS", Radio Television of Vojvodina, 5 July 2013, accessed 7 January 2022.
During her time out of politics, she was an advisor for a non-governmental organization called the Institute for the Research of Serbian Suffering in the Twentieth Century."Marina Raguš, bivša radikalka, govornica na 'Danima Amerike'", Danas, 18 September 2024, accessed 24 June 2026.
Return to political life (2020–present) After eight years out of political life, Raguš contested the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election on the electoral list of Aleksandar Šapić's Serbian Patriotic Alliance (SPAS), appearing in the second position on the list as a non-party candidate.Ivana Mastilović Jasnić, "POSLE OSAM GODINA OPET U POLITICI, A MOŽDA I U VLADI", Blic, 2 August 2020, accessed 7 January 2022.Miloš D. Miljković, "Prvih 10 kandidata na listi 'Aleksandar Šapić – Pobeda za Srbiju'", Danas, 15 March 2020, accessed 7 January 2022. The list won eleven seats, and she was elected to a third parliamentary term. (Serbia's electoral system had been reformed in 2011, such that all mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order.)Law on the Election of Members of the Parliament (2000, as amended 2011) (Articles 88 & 92) made available via LegislationOnline, , accessed 6 June 2021. She was chosen as leader of the SPAS parliamentary group after the election and was also a member of the administrative committee, a deputy member of the education committee, the chair of a subcommittee on the information society and digitalization, and a member of Serbia's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation."U Skupštini 11 poslanika bez poslaničke grupe", Radio Television of Serbia, 24 August 2020, accessed 7 January 2022.MARINA RAGUŠ, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 14 August 2022.
Raguš somewhat belatedly became a member of the SNS in May 2021, when the Serbian Patriotic Alliance merged into the Progressive Party. She was elected to the SNS presidency later in the year.Српска напредна странка: Председништво, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 14 August 2022.