Tihomir Đuričić (; born 21 April 1959) is a politician in Serbia. He has served in the National Assembly of Serbia (2004–07) and the Assembly of Vojvodina (2004–08), and as mayor of Kula (2004–06). Đuričić is a member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (Srpska radikalna stranka, SRS).
Early life and private career Đuričić was born in Odžaci, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He was raised in the village of Lipar in the neighbouring municipality of Kula. After service in the Yugoslav People's Army, he started working for "Bačka put" Novi Sad in 1979. Đuričić became a private entrepreneur in 1984 and was employed with Rodić MB from 1992 to 2000.Velika Srbija [Radical Party publication], Volume 15 Number 1856 (Kula, September 2004), p. 6.
Politician Đuričić became the president of the SRS board in Kula in 1999. He appeared in the second position on the party's electoral list for the Sombor division in the 2000 Yugoslavian parliamentary election; the party did not win any seats in the division."КАНДИДАТИ СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА ЗА ИЗБОР САВЕЗНИХ ПОСЛАНИІКА У ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Velika Srbija [Radical Party publication], September 2000, p. 3; ИЗБОРИ 2000: ВЕЋЕ РЕПУБЛИКА И ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (2000), p. 44. He was also a candidate for the Kula–Bačka Topola division in the concurrent 2000 Vojvodina provincial election and was defeated.
Slobodan Milošević was defeated as Yugoslavia's president in the 2000 election, a watershed moment in Serbian and Yugoslavian politics. A new Serbian parliamentary election was called after his defeat for December 2000; prior to the vote, Serbia's electoral laws were changed such that the entire country was counted as a single electoral district and all parliamentary mandates were awarded to candidates at the discretion of the sponsoring parties and coalitions, irrespective of their numerical order on the electoral lists.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. Đuričić was given the eighty-second position on the Radical Party's list; the list won twenty-three seats, and he was not given a mandate.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), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 2 July 2021.
Parliamentarian, provincial representative, and mayor Đuričić received the 106th 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 (2. СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - др ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ) Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 2 July 2021. The list won eighty-two seats, and he was not initially included in his party's assembly delegation. He was, however, given a mandate on 17 February 2004 as the replacement for another party member.TREĆE VANREDNO ZASEDANJE, 17.02.2004., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 25 February 2022. Although the Radicals won more seats than any other party in the 2003 parliamentary election, they fell well short of a majority and ultimately served in opposition. In parliament, Đuričić served as a member of the committee on transport and communications.ДЕТАЉИ О НАРОДНОМ ПОСЛАНИКУ – ЂУРИЧИЋ, ТИХОМИР, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 7 January 2007, accessed 25 February 2022.
Serbia introduced the direct election of mayors in the 2004 Serbian local elections, and Đuričić was elected as the mayor of Kula, defeating Slaviša Božović of the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS) in the second round. He was also elected to the Vojvodina assembly in the concurrent 2004 provincial election, winning the redistributed Kula constituency seat. The DS and its allies won the provincial election, and the Radicals served in opposition.
Kula's municipal government proved to be unstable after the 2004 election, and in May 2006 Đuričić was defeated in a recall election."Izbori u Kuli, Kovinu...", B92, 25 June 2006, accessed 22 February 2022. He subsequently lost a by-election to choose a new mayor, falling to DS candidate Svetozar Bukvić in the second round. During the by-election campaign, Đuričić was convicted of stealing electricity at his family home and given a three-month jail sentence, suspended for one year.M. Laketić, "Poslanik osuđen zbog krađe struje", Politika, 5 July 2006, accessed 25 February 2022.
Đuričić was included in the Radical Party's electoral lists for the 2007 and 2008 parliamentary elections, although he was not given a mandate on either occasion.He received the 110th position in 2007 and the 179th position in 2008. See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (4 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 – 4 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 the Republic of Serbia, accessed 5 March 2017. He was also defeated in his bid for re-election in the Kula constituency seat in the 2008 Vojvodina provincial election, once again losing to Bukvić in the second round of voting.
The direct election of mayors proved to be a short-lived experiment; with the 2008 local elections, Serbia returned to a system of having mayors chosen by the elected members of city and municipal assemblies. The DS narrowly defeated the SRS in the 2008 local election in Kula; Đuričić was re-elected to the assembly and served in opposition.Službeni List (Opštine Kula), Volume 43 Number 7 (12 May 2008), pp. 47-48.Službeni List (Opštine Kula), Volume 43 Number 10 (17 June 2008), p. 203.
The Radical Party experienced a serious split later in 2008, with several members joining the more moderate Serbian Progressive Party (Srpska napredna stranka, SNS) under the leadership of Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić. Đuričić remained with the Radicals.
Svetozar Bukvić resigned as Kula's mayor in late 2011, and the Serbian government appointed a provisional administration with representatives from different parties pending new elections. Đuričić served as the SRS's representative."Lokalni izbori u Kuli 29. aprila", Radio Television of Vojvodina, 5 March 2012, accessed 25 February 2022.
Since 2011 Serbia's electoral laws were reformed in 2011, such that mandates were assigned in numerical order in all elections held under proportional representation. Đuričić was given the 161st position on the Radical Party's list for the 2012 Serbian parliamentary election; this was too low a position for election to be a realistic prospect, and in any event the party fell below the electoral threshold for representation in the assembly.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (2 СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - ДР ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 28 September 2021. He also ran for the Kula constituency seat again the 2012 provincial election and finished in sixth place against Jovan Janić of the DS. He was re-elected to the Kula municipal assembly in the 2012 local elections as the Radicals fell to only two seats out of thirty-seven.Službeni List (Opštine Kula), Volume 47 Number 16 (8 May 2012), p. 101.Službeni list (Opštine Kula), Volume 47 Number 21 (28 May 2012), p. 239.
Vojvodina switched to a system of full proportional representation for the 2016 provincial election. Đuričić received the twenty-eighth position on the Radical Party's list and was not elected 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), Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia, accessed 11 May 2018. He also led the SRS list in the concurrent 2016 local elections and was re-elected when the party again won two seats in the Kula municipal assembly.Službeni List (Opštine Kula), 13 April 2016, Volume 51 Number 11 (13 April 2016), p. 83.Službeni List (Opštine Kula), Volume 51 Number 18 (5 May 2016), pp. 141-142. The SNS won a narrow majority victory in the Kula election; following the vote, Đuričić was appointed as an assistant to new mayor Perica Videkanjić on the economy, agriculture, and infrastructure.ПРЕДСЕДНИК ОПШТИНЕ КУЛА, , Municipality of Kula, 7 January 2007, accessed 25 February 2022. By virtue of holding his position, he was required to resign his assembly seat."Одржана друга седница Скупштине општине", Municipality of Kula, 8 April 2018, accessed 25 February 2022.
The local SNS organization in Kula became divided into factions after 2016, and Videkanjić resigned as mayor in May 2018. A new local election was held later that year, and Đuričić again led the SRS list.Službeni List (Opštine Kula), Volume 53 Number 38 (5 December 2018), p. 560. The party fell below the threshold for assembly representation.Službeni List (Opštine Kula), Volume 51 Number 40 (17 December 2018), pp. 568-569.
Đuričić appeared in the nineteenth position on the SRS's list in the 2020 Vojvodina provincial election. The list won four mandates and he was again not elected.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 5 December 2021.
Electoral record Provincial (Vojvodina) + 2012 Vojvodina assembly electionKula (constituency seat) - First and Second RoundsSource: Резултати избора за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне Покрајине Војводине по већинском изборном систему (2012) (25 Кула), Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia, accessed 8 August 2017. Candidate Party or Coalition Votes % Votes % Jovan Janić Choice for a Better Vojvodina (Affiliation: Democratic Party) 4,688 21.38 10,017 56.28 Pero Ergarac Let's Get Vojvodina Moving (Serbian Progressive Party, New Serbia, Movement of Socialists, Strength of Serbia Movement) 3,358 15.31 7,780 43.72 Aleksandar Zrakić Socialist Party of Serbia–Party of United Pensioners of Serbia–United Serbia–Social Democratic Party of Serbia 3,024 13.79 Radoslav Smiljanić Democratic Party of Serbia 2,300 10.49 Aleksandar Arvaji United Regions of Serbia 2,049 9.34 Tihomir Đuričić Tiho Serbian Radical Party 1,653 7.54 Olena Papuga League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina–Nenad Čanak 1,619 7.38 Vladimir Nikolić Citizens' Group: Dveri 1,251 5.70 Károly Valka Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians 1,178 5.37 Mirjana Obradov U-Turn 809 3.69 Total valid votes 21,929 100 17,797 100