Slobodan Gavrilović () is a Serbian politician, academic, author, and publisher. He has been a federal and republican parliamentarian and was the director of Serbia's Official Gazette from 2007 to 2012. Gavrilović is a member of the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS).
Early life and private career Gavrilović was born in the village of Prijevor in the municipality of Čačak, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He moved to Užice in 1966 and lived in the city until 2000. He graduated in sociology from the University of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1976 and afterward began working toward a master's degree at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy. He did not complete his degree at the time, a decision he later described as a mistake; he finally received his master's in the 2000s. Beginning in 1975, he worked as a sociology teacher; he taught high school from 1980 to 2000.
He was active in the League of Communists of Serbia in his youth (when Yugoslavia was a one-party socialist state), but was expelled from the party in 1974 for supporting a group of professors in the philosophy department who had opposed changes to Yugoslavia's constitution.
Gavrilović has written several books, many concerning the life of Živojin Pavlović, a left-wing journalist from Užice who was killed by Yugoslav Partisans during the short-lived Republic of Užice in 1941. In 1990, he oversaw the republication of Pavlović's Balance of the Soviet Thermidor, an anti-Stalinist work that documented the Great Terror in the Soviet Union and was dedicated to its victims.Zora Drčelić, "Ovo je režim u kojem se drhti", Vreme, 1 October 2015, accessed 21 September 2022."Tajna crvenog kofera", NIN, 12 December 2002, accessed 21 September 2022.
Politician Early years (1991–1993) Gavrilović became a founding member of the Democratic Party with the re-introduction of multi-party politics in 1990 (although he traces the party's origins to a letter of intent signed in December 1989).Veljko Miladinović i Dušan Telesković, "0 godina od obnove Demokratske stranke: Od intelektualne elite preko “žutog preduzeća” do velike neizvesnosti…", Nedeljnik, 3 February 2020, accessed 21 September 2022. He was a prominent organizer for the party in its early years and became president of its Užice board in 1990. He was the DS's candidate for the National Assembly of Serbia in Užice's first division in the 1990 parliamentary election, losing to a candidate of the Serbian Renewal Movement (Srpski pokret obnove, SPO). From 1991 to 1993, he was first secretary of the DS.SLOBODAN GAVRILOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 21 September 2022.
Serbian and Yugoslavian politics were dominated by Slobodan Milošević's Socialist Party of Serbia (Socijalistička partija Srbije, SPS) in the 1990s, and the DS and SPO were for many years the leading parties in opposition to Milošević's administration. Serbia adopted a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections in 1992. Gavrilović wanted the DS to participate in the 1992 Serbian parliamentary election as part of the Democratic Movement of Serbia (Demokratski pokret Srbije, DEPOS), an alliance of opposition parties that included the SPO, but the party decided instead to contest the election on its own. Some DS members who favoured participation in DEPOS left to form the Democratic Party of Serbia (Demokratska stranka Srbije, DSS), but Gavrilović remained with the DS.Veljko Miladinović i Dušan Telesković, "0 godina od obnove Demokratske stranke: Od intelektualne elite preko “žutog preduzeća” do velike neizvesnosti…", Nedeljnik, 3 February 2020, accessed 21 September 2022. He led the party's electoral list in Užice for the 1992 Serbian parliamentary election; the list did not cross the electoral threshold for assembly representation.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 20. и 27. децембра 1992. године и 3. јануара 1993. године – ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (9 Ужице) and Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 20. и 27. децембра 1992. године и 3. јануара 1993. године, Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 30 July 2021.
Parliamentarian (1994–1997) and after Gavrilović again appeared in the lead position on the DS's list for Užice in the 1993 Serbian parliamentary election and was this time elected when the list won two mandates. He took his seat when the assembly convened in early 1994.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 19. и 26. децембра 1993. године и 5. јануара 1994. године – ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (9 Ужице) and Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 19. и 26. децембра 1993. године и 5. јануара 1994. године, Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 30 July 2021.Službeni Glasnik (Republike Srbije), Volume 50 Number 11 (25 January 1994), p. 193. The SPS won a plurality victory and afterward formed a coalition government with New Democracy (Nova demokratija, ND); the DS served in opposition. Gavrilović was elected to his first term as a vice-president of the DS in 1994 and was also the deputy leader of the party's assembly group.SLOBODAN GAVRILOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 21 September 2022.
In late 1995, Gavrilović launched an initiative to reunite the Democratic Party of Serbia into the DS. This was rejected by the DS leadership.Robert Thomas, Serbia Under Miloševic: Politics in the 1990s, (London: Hurst & Company), 1999, p. 255.
The DS contested the 1996 Serbian local elections in an alliance with the SPO called Together (Zajedno). The alliance won the election in Užice, but the result was nullified by the SPS and new elections ordered. Similar events in other cities led to mass protests, but Zajedno accepted the re-vote in Užice; Gavrilović defended its decision on the grounds that the local populace was not in a position to take to the streets.Dragan Todorović, "You Voted for Nothing", Vreme, 1 December 1996, accessed 21 September 2022. Zajedno ultimately won the repeat election, and Gavrilović served as a member of the city assembly for the next term."Propao predlog socijalista", Glas javnosti, 7 April 2000, accessed 21 September 2022.
In July 1997, Gavrilović indicated that the DS would attempt to stop the national assembly from passing a proposed new law on electoral units, which he said was intended to maximize the SPS's seat count relative to its number of voters."Demokrate optuzuju socijaliste zbog arcenja narodne imovine", Naša borba, 17 July 1997, accessed 21 September 2022. The law was approved, and the DS ultimately boycotted the 1997 parliamentary election.
Gavrilović emerged as a critic of DS party leader Zoran Đinđić in 1998, accusing him of inappropriately centralizing power within the party.Robert Thomas, Serbia Under Miloševic: Politics in the 1990s, (London: Hurst & Company), 1999, p. 396. He stood down as a party vice-president during this time. Reflecting on these events several years later, he said that there was always respect between himself and Đinđić, even when they were rivals within the party.Veljko Miladinović i Dušan Telesković, "0 godina od obnove Demokratske stranke: Od intelektualne elite preko “žutog preduzeća” do velike neizvesnosti…", Nedeljnik, 3 February 2020, accessed 21 September 2022. He returned to the role of vice-president the following year.SLOBODAN GAVRILOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 21 September 2022.
In 1999, Gavrilović introduced a manifesto against the Milošević administration at a public rally in Užice, calling for Serbia's opposition parties to unite and overthrow the government."Na mitingu Užičani pozdravili otvaranje 'Glasa javnosti'", Glas javnosti, 4 October 1999, accessed 21 September 2022. He continued to lead protests against Milošević into 2000."'Izdajnik sam, tim se dičim'", Glas javnosti, 16 May 2000, accessed 21 September 2022.
Federal Parliamentarian (2000–04) In 2000, the DS became a leading party in the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Demokratska opozicija Srbije, DOS), a broad and ideologically diverse coalition of parties opposed to the Milošević administration. DOS candidate Vojislav Koštunica defeated Milošević in the 2000 Yugoslavian presidential election, a watershed moment in Serbian and Yugoslavian political life. Gavrilović appeared in the lead position on the DOS's list for Užice in the concurrent election for the Chamber of Citizens in the Yugoslavian parliament and was elected when the list won two mandates.Izborna lista za Veće građana Savezne skupštine – Demokratske opozicije Srbije, , Democratic Opposition of Serbia, accessed 3 August 2022.ИЗБОРИ 2000: ВЕЋЕ РЕПУБЛИКА И ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (2000), p. 55.For the 2000 Yugoslavian parliamentary election, half of the mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order; the remaining half were assigned to other candidates at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions. See "Ko su poslanici", , Vreme, 28 September 2000, accessed 3 August 2022. The DOS afterward formed a coalition government in Yugoslavia with the support of delegates from Montenegro, and Gavrilović led the DOS group in the federal assembly.SLOBODAN GAVRILOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 21 September 2022.
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was re-constituted as the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro in February 2003. The new state had a unicameral legislature with members appointed by the republican parliaments of Serbia and Montenegro; in February 2003, Gavrilović was appointed as part of the DS's delegation to the new body."Poslanici nove države", Glas javnosti, 20 February 2003, accessed 21 September 2022. The Serbian parliament appointed a new federal delegation in early 2004 (following the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election), and Gavrilović's term came to an end at that time.
Following Đinđić's assassination in 2003, the DS became divided between supporters of Boris Tadić and Zoran Živković. Gavrilović supported Tadić and was re-elected as a party vice-president on Tadić's slate in 2004."Živković ili Tadić", Glas javnosti, 21 February 2004, accessed 21 September 2022.SLOBODAN GAVRILOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 21 September 2022.
Return to the National Assembly (2007)