Mujo Muković (; born 15 August 1963) is a politician in Serbia from the country's Bosniak community. He has served four terms in the National Assembly of Serbia and was at one time a secretary of state in the country's government. For many years a prominent member of the Sandžak Democratic Party (Sandžačka demokratska partija, SDP), he founded the breakaway Bosniak People's Party (Bošnjačka Narodna Stranka, BNS) in 2012.
Early life and private career Muković was born in Tutin, in the Sandžak region of what was then the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. A gifted student, he graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Civil Engineering, acquiring the title of Bachelor of Civil Engineering - Master, and has worked in construction for the municipality of Tutin.MUJO MUKOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 8 May 2022.
Politics After multi-party politics was re-introduced to Serbia in 1990, Muković became a member of Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak (Stranka demokratske akcije Sandžaka, SDA), which was at the time the only Bosniak party in Serbia. He left that party in 1996 to join the Sandžak Coalition, which in 2000 became the SDP. Muković was chosen as deputy leader of the latter group.MUJO MUKOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 8 May 2022.
First parliamentary term (2001–04) In 2000, the SDP became part of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Demokratska opozicija Srbije, DOS), a broad and ideologically diverse coalition of parties opposed to Slobodan Milošević's administration. Muković was the SDP's main representative on the DOS's electoral list in the 2000 Serbian parliamentary election, appearing in the seventeenth position.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 23. децембра 2000. године и 10. јануара 2001. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (4 Демократска опозиција Србије – др Војислав Коштуница (Демократска странка, Демократска странка Србије, Социјалдемократија, Грађански савез Србије, Демохришћанска странка Србије, Нова Србија, Покрет за демократску Србију, Лига соFцијалдемократа Војводине, Реформска демократска странка Војводине, Коалиција Војводина, Савез војвођанских Мађара, Демократска алтернатива, Демократски центар, Нова демократија, Социјалдемократска унија, Санxачка демократска партија, Лига за Шумадију, Српски покрет отпора – Демократски покрет)), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 2 July 2021. The list won a landslide victory with 176 out of 250 seats, and Muković was given a mandate when the new assembly convened in January 2001.PRVA KONSTITUTIVNA SEDNICA, 22.01.2001., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 26 March 2022. (From 2000 to 2011, all mandates in Serbian parliamentary election were distributed to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of sponsoring parties or coalitions, irrespective of 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. Muković was not automatically elected by virtue of his list position but received a mandate all the same.) During his term, he was a member of the committee on inter-ethnic relations and the committee on constitutional affairs.ДЕТАЉИ О НАРОДНОМ ПОСЛАНИКУ: МУКОВИЋ, МУЈО, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 8 January 2004, accessed 8 May 2022.
Early in his term, Muković credited the SDP with ensuring Serbia's recognition of Muslims [Bosniaks] as a nationality in the country's law on national minorities."Sandzak 'does not need special status' - party leader," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European – Political, 25 April 2001. In October 2001, he called for fair representation of Bosniaks in the Novi Pazar police department and for Sandžak policemen who had been fired under Milošević's regime to be given their jobs back; the following year, he accused the government on inaction on this front."Sandzak MPs want policemen sacked under previous regime back at work," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European – Political, 9 October 2001 (Source: Text of report by Serbian local radio from Novi Pazar on 7 March)."Sandzak party supports Labus, but not Serbian government," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European – Political, 21 August 2002 (Source: Excerpt from report by Serbian local radio from Novi Pazar on 21 August). He criticized's Serbia's new law on local self-administration in early 2002, saying that it provided only minor changes to the existing system."Sandzak official criticizes Serbia's new draft law on local self-administration," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European – Political, 9 February 2002 (Source: Excerpt from report by Serbian local radio from Novi Pazar on 8 February).
In June 2002, Muković was one of nine Serbian parliamentarians appointed to a commission for drafting the constitutional charter of the planned State Union of Serbia and Montenegro."Serbian Assembly appoints nine members to constitutional charter commission," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European – Political, 5 June 2002 (Source: Text of report by Serbian news agency Beta). He described the appointment as an important step for Bosniaks and for the Sandžak region."Sandzak official hails his election to new Yugoslav constitutional commission," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European – Political, 7 June 2003 (Source: Text of report by Serbian local radio from Novi Pazar on 7 June). At one stage, the SDP threatened to resign from the commission on the grounds that the proposed draft did not provide adequate guarantees on human and minority rights; ultimately, however, Muković remained a member and supported the final document."Sandzak party to quit constitutional commission," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European – Political, 29 August 2002 (Source: Text of report by Belgrade-based Radio B92 on 28 August)."Sandzak politician defends new Yugoslav constitution text, slates colleague," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 1 November 2002 (Source: Text of report by Serbian local radio from Novi Pazar on 31 October)."Sandzak party welcomes new state despite absence of Bosniaks in assembly," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 21 February 2003 (Source: Excerpt from report by Serbian local radio from Novi Pazar on 21 February). He later served on a similar commission for Serbia at the republic level, although he quit the group after the SDP's minimum demands were not met."Sandzak SDP representative quits Serbian Constitutional Commission," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 4 October 2003 (Source: Text of report in English by Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug).
Muković announced in August 2002 that the SDP would support Miroljub Labus's candidacy in the following month's Serbian presidential election."Sandzak party supports Labus, but not Serbian government," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European – Political, 21 August 2002 (Source: Excerpt from report by Serbian local radio from Novi Pazar on 21 August). The election was ultimately invalidated due to low turnout.
The SDP contested the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election as part of the Together for Tolerance (Zajedno za toleranciju, ZZT) alliance, and Muković appeared in the 140th position on a list that was mostly alphabetical.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (12. ЗАЈЕДНО ЗА ТОЛЕРАНЦИЈУ - ЧАНАК, КАСА, ЉАЈИЋ) Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 2 July 2021. The list failed to cross the electoral threshold, and his first term in the assembly ended in January 2004.
Serbia briefly introduced the direct election of mayors for the 2004 Serbian local elections. Muković ran as the SDP's candidate in Tutin and was defeated.
Second parliamentary term and Secretary of State (2007–2011) For the 2007 parliamentary election, the SDP joined the electoral list of the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS). Muković appeared on the list and was given a mandate for a second term when the DS alliance won sixty-four seats.Muković was given the 163rd position on the list. See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Демократска странка – Борис Тадић), Republika Srbija – Republička izborna komisija, accessed 10 July 2021.14 February 2007 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 10 July 2021. In the immediate aftermath of the 2007 election, Tomislav Nikolić of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (Srpska radikalna stranka, SRS) was elected as speaker of the assembly. The SDP delegates boycotted the vote; Muković later accused some political parties "hitherto ... of the democratic bloc, at least on paper," of permitting Nikolić's election to occur."Sandzak MP blame [sic] PM's bloc for 'plunging' Serbia 'into darkest past'," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 11 May 2007 (Source: Excerpt from report by Serbian local TV from Novi Pazar on 10 May). The DS ultimately formed a coalition government with the rival Democratic Party of Serbia (Demokratska stranka Srbije, DSS) and G17 Plus, and Muković served as an administration supporter.
Muković was a member of the assembly's defense and security committee during his second term; in this capacity, he sought the removal of the Mehov Krš security checkpoint between Serbia and Montenegro (which had declared independence in 2006), on the grounds that local residents were required to cross the border on a daily basis."Serbia: Sandzak politician urges rival bloc to 'talk' despite recent 'attacks'," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 21 August 2007 (Source: Excerpt from report by Serbian local TV from Novi Pazar). He also served on the committee on interethnic relations and the committee on urbanism and construction.ДЕТАЉИ О НАРОДНОМ ПОСЛАНИКУ: МУКОВИЋ, МУЈО, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 18 January 2008, accessed 8 May 2022.
The DS–DSS coalition fell apart in early 2008, and a new parliamentary election was held in May of that year. Muković appeared on the DS's For a European Serbia (Za evropsku Srbiju, ZES) list, which won 102 seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ЗА ЕВРОПСКУ СРБИЈУ – БОРИС ТАДИЋ), Republika Srbija – Republička izborna komisija, accessed 10 July 2021. He was not given a mandate for a third term but was later appointed as a secretary of state in Serbia's ministry of infrastructure.
In June 2009, Muković indicated that the SDP would support Serbia's regional development bill if the municipalities of the Sandžak were included as a single region."Serbia: Sandzak party sets out condition for supporting regionalization bill," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 26 June 2008 (Source: Text of report by Serbian private independent news agency FoNet).
Departure from the SDP and return to parliament (2011–16)