Ljubiša Jovašević (; born 20 December 1953) is a Serbian medical doctor and politician. He was a parliamentarian in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and its successor State Union of Serbia and Montenegro from 2000 to 2006 and has served as the mayor of Kraljevo on two occasions. A member of the Democratic Party of Serbia (Demokratska stranka Srbije, DSS) for many years, he left the party in 2007 to form the Movement for Kraljevo (Pokret za Kraljevo). From 2010 to 2018, he was the de facto leader of the Movement of United Local Self-Governments (Pokret ujedinjenih lokalnih samouprava, PULS).
Early life and private career Jovašević was born in Sarajevo, in what was then the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in 1978 and worked in Reading, United Kingdom, as part of his internship. He later specialized at the clinic for orthopedic surgery and traumatology at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Medicine, completed post-graduate studies in London, and in 1988 became the leader of the on-call trauma group at the Emergency Center in Belgrade. He earned his Ph.D in 1992; he has taught at the University of Priština in Leposavić and has published in his field.Градоначелник Краљева: ДР ЉУБИША ЈОВАШЕВИЋ, , City of Kraljevo, accessed 26 November 2022.
Politician Early years Jovašević was a founding member of the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS) in 1990. When the party split in 1992, he joined the breakaway Democratic Party of Serbia. He appeared in the eighth position on the DSS's electoral list for the Kragujevac division in the 1993 Serbian parliamentary election; the list won two seats, and he did not receive a mandate.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 19. и 26. децембра 1993. године и 5. јануара 1994. године – ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (3 Крагујевац) 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 16 (11 February 1994), pp. 193-194. (From 1992 to 2000, Serbia's electoral law stipulated that one-third of parliamentary mandates would be assigned to candidates on successful lists in numerical order, while the remaining two-thirds would be distributed amongst other candidates at the discretion of sponsoring parties or coalitions. Jovašević could theoretically have been awarded a mandate despite his list position, but he was not.)Guide to the Early Election, Ministry of Information of the Republic of Serbia, December 1992, made available by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, accessed 14 July 2017.
Federal representative and first term as mayor In 2000, the DSS joined the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Demokratska opozicija Srbije, DOS), a broad and ideologically diverse coalition of parties opposed to the rule of Slobodan Milošević and his allies. DOS candidate Vojislav Koštunica defeated Milošević in the 2000 Yugoslavian presidential election, a watershed moment in Serbian and Yugoslavian politics. In the concurrent Yugoslavian parliamentary election, Jovašević appeared in the lead position on the DOS's list for the Kraljevo division and was elected when the list won two of three available seats.ИЗБОРИ 2000: ВЕЋЕ РЕПУБЛИКА И ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (2000), p. 78."Ko su poslanici", , Vreme, 28 September 2000, accessed 26 November 2022. For this election, half of the mandates were awarded in numerical order and the other half at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions. Jovašević was automatically elected. The DOS afterward formed a coalition government with the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro (Socijalistička narodna partija Crne Gore, SNP), and Jovašević initially served as a supporter of the administration.
Jovašević was also elected to the Kraljevo municipal assembly in the 2000 Serbian local elections, which took place at the same time the federal election. The DOS won a majority victory, and Jovašević was chosen as president of the assembly, a position that was at the time equivalent to mayor.Izbori, 2000. Za Odbornike Skupština Opština i Gradova, Bureau of Statistics – Republic of Serbia, p. 66.Miroljub Dugalić, "Учестале смене у градоначелничкој фотељи", Politika, 20 February 2018, accessed 26 November 2022. He had little practical authority in this role, however, as most important municipal positions were held by members of the DS, the other major party in the DOS coalition.Dragan Todorović, "Srbija u Kraljevu", Vreme, 25 September 2003, accessed 26 November 2022.
The DSS withdrew support from Serbia's DOS government in 2001 and left the alliance entirely in 2002. In July 2002, Jovašević accused recently dismissed military official Nebojša Pavković of misusing a multi-million dollar fund for military hospitals and of having connections to a cigarette smuggling ring. Pavković, who denied the accusation and initiated legal charges against Jovašević, had been considered as a supporter of DS leader Zoran Đinđić, and the accusations contributed to ongoing divisions between the DS and DSS."Mudslinging Deepens Political Crisis in Yugoslavia," Dow Jones International News, 16 July 2002."Pavković traži odštetu 90 miliona", Glas javnosti, 19 July 2002, accessed 26 November 2022.
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formally reconstituted as the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro in February 2003, and the Assembly of Serbia and Montenegro was established as its legislative branch. The first members of this body were chosen by indirect election from the republican parliaments of Serbia and Montenegro, with each parliamentary group allowed representation proportional to its numbers. Only sitting members of the Serbian assembly or the Montenegrin assembly, or members of the Federal Assembly of Yugoslavia at the time of the country's reconstitution, were eligible to serve. The DSS was permitted seventeen members in the federal assembly, and Jovašević was included in the party's delegation."Poslanici nove države", Glas Javnosti, 20 February 2003, accessed 31 May 2018. On 23 June 2003, he was also chosen as part of Serbia and Montenegro's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).Mr Ljubiša JOVAŠEVIC, Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe, accessed 26 November 2022.
At the municipal level, Jovašević was no longer supported by a majority of the delegates in Kraljevo's assembly by mid-2003, and the local government had become unstable. In July 2003, the Serbian government dissolved the assembly and dismissed Jovašević from office, calling a new election for November.10. jul, , City of Kraljevo, accessed 26 November 2022. By this time, Serbia had introduced the direct election of mayors; Jovašević ran as the DSS's candidate and was defeated in the second round by Radoslav Jović of the Serbian Renewal Movement (Srpski pokret obnove, SPO).
Jovašević appeared in the nineteenth position on the DSS's list in the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election and was awarded a mandate in the republican assembly when the list won fifty-three seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (3 ДЕМОКРАТСКА СТРАНКА СРБИЈЕ - ВОЈИСЛАВ КОШТУНИЦА), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 15 February 2021."Skupština čeka demokrate", Glas javnosti, 13 January 2004, accessed 26 November 2022. (From 2000 to 2011, Serbian parliamentary mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions, and it was common practice for the mandates to be assigned out of numerical order. Jovašević was not automatically elected by virtue of his list position.)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. His term was in any event brief; he was appointed to a new term in the federal parliament on 12 February 2004 and was required to give up his seat in the national assembly."Izbor poslanika u Skupštinu SCG", Glas javnosti, 12 February 2004, accessed 27 January 2021. He was also re-appointed to the PACE in April 2004.Mr Ljubiša JOVAŠEVIC, Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe, accessed 26 November 2022. During his time in the PACE, he was at different times the president of the bioethics committee, the vice-president of the legal and political committee, and a member of the foreign policy committee.Градоначелник Краљева: ДР ЉУБИША ЈОВАШЕВИЋ, , City of Kraljevo, accessed 26 November 2022.
Administrator of the Raška District The Serbian government gave Jovašević additional responsibilities as administrator of the Raška District in September 2005."Serbian government appoints new head of Sandzak region," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European (Source: RTV Novi Pazar, Novi Pazar, in Serbo-Croat 1700 gmt 26 Sep 05, 27 September 2005. In this capacity, he oversaw the territory during the 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum and supported prominent Sandžak politician Bajram Omeragić's call for Bosniaks in Montenegro to vote against independence."Sandzak politician urges Montenegrin Muslims to vote against independence," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European (Source: Excerpt from report by M.B. and M.Nj. entitled "Omeragic: Serbia-Montenegro is in our interest" published by Montenegrin newspaper Dan on 18 January), 18 January 2006. This effort was ultimately unsuccessful; the independence option won the election with the support of most Bosniaks in the country.
The federal assembly ceased to exist after Montenegro's declaration of independence in June 2006, and Jovašević's parliamentary tenure came to an end. He appeared in the seventy-third position on a combined Democratic Party of Serbia–New Serbia (Nova Srbija, NS) list in the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election and did not receive a mandate when the list won forty-seven seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (5 Демократска странка Србије - Нова Србија - др Војислав Коштуница), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 15 February 2021.14 February 2007 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 26 November 2022. His term as head of the Raška District ended in August 2007."Na mapi i demokrate", Novosti, 7 August 2007, accessed 26 November 2022.
Leader of the Movement for Kraljevo Jovašević left the DSS in September 2007 and formed the local Movement for Kraljevo party the following month. In December 2007, five former Serbian Radical Party (Srpska radikalna stranka, SRS) delegates and one former DSS delegate in the municipal assembly joined the party, giving it official status.M. Dugalić, "Краљевачка престројавања", Politika, 14 November 2007, accessed 26 November 2022."Nova odbornička grupa u SO Kraljevo", Danas, 15 December 2007, accessed 26 November 2022.