Milan Veselinović (; born 24 December 1956) is a Serbian politician. He has served in the parliaments of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, been a deputy minister in the Serbian government, and held high political office at the city level in Novi Pazar. He is a member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (Srpska radikalna stranka, SRS).
Early life and career Veselinović was born to an ethnically Serb family in the predominantly Bosniak community of Novi Pazar, in the Sandžak region of what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. Raised in the community, he graduated from the higher pedagogical school in Priština with a focus on mathematics and holds an engineering degree from the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Organizational Sciences. He has worked as a mathematics and informatics teacher.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (2. СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - др ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 2 July 2021.Velika Srbija [Serbian Radical Party publication], Volume 11 Number 901 (Belgrade, September 2000), p. 12.Velika Srbija [Serbian Radical Party publication], Volume 15 Number 1834 (Novi Pazar, August 2004), p. 3.
Politician Federal parliamentarian (1992–1996) Veselinović appeared on the Radical Party's electoral list for the Chamber of Citizens in the Kragujevac division in the December 1992 Yugoslavian parliamentary election. The list won four of twelve available seats, and he was selected for the party's fourth and final mandate.ИЗБОРИ '92: ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (1993), pp. 15, 32. The Socialist Party of Serbia (Socijalistička partija Srbije) won the election, and the Radicals served in opposition for the term that followed. Available online sources do not indicate if Veselinović was a candidate in the 1996 Yugoslavian election; the Radicals did not in any event win any seats in the redistributed division of Kraljevo (which included Novi Pazar) that year, and his term as a federal parliamentarian came to an end.Velika Srbija [Serbian Radical Party publication], Volume 15 Number 1834 (Novi Pazar, August 2004), p. 3.ИЗБОРИ '96: ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (1996), p. 55.
In November 1996, he blamed Serbian president and SPS leader Slobodan Milošević for the rise of Sulejman Ugljanin's Bosniak autonomist political organization in the Sandžak."Novi Pazar", NIN, 23 November 1996, accessed 20 December 2022.
Deputy Minister and various candidacies (1997–2003) Veselinović appeared in the second position on the SRS's list for Kraljevo in the 1997 Serbian parliamentary election. The list won two seats, and he was not chosen for a mandate.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997. године – ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (21 Краљево), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 9 September 2021.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997. године – РЕЗУЛТАТИ ИЗБОРА (Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997. године (Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997.) године, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 2 July 2021. (From 1992 to 2000, Serbia's electoral law stipulated that one-third of parliamentary mandates would be assigned to candidates from successful lists in numerical order, while the remaining two-thirds would be distributed amongst other candidates at the discretion of the sponsoring parties.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. It was common practice for the latter mandates to be awarded out of order. Veselinović was not automatically elected, and the party's optional mandate for Kraljevo went to third-ranked candidate Miroljub Veljković.)PRVA SEDNICA, 03.12.1997., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 12 January 2022.
In early 1998, the SPS formed a new coalition government in Serbia with the SRS and the Yugoslav Left (Jugoslovenska Levica, JUL). Veselinović was appointed as deputy minister of education in the new ministry. In February 2000, he became one of a number of Serbian officials placed under international sanctions in the aftermath of the Kosovo War."Za 233 imena proširen spisak", Glas javnosti, 29 February 2000, accessed 20 December 2022.
Veselinović was given the second position on the Radical Party's list for Kraljevo in the 2000 Yugoslavian election; once again, the party did not win any seats in the division.Velika Srbija [Serbian Radical Party publication], Volume 11 Number 901 (Belgrade, September 2000), p. 12. He also ran for Novi Pazar's fourth division in the concurrent 2000 Serbian local elections and was the only SRS candidate elected to the municipal assembly that year.Velika Srbija [Serbian Radical Party publication], Volume 11 Number 1201 (Belgrade, September 2000), p. 28.Izbori, 2000. Za Odbornike Skupština Opština i Gradova, Bureau of Statistics – Republic of Serbia, p 66.Novi Pazar, 11. septembar, , Municipality of Novi Pazar, 8 March 2003, accessed 20 December 2022.
Slobodan Milošević was defeated in the 2000 Yugoslavian election, a watershed moment in Serbian and Yugoslavian politics. Serbia's government fell shortly thereafter, and Veselinović's term as a deputy minister ended in October 2000. A new Serbian parliamentary election was subsequently called for December 2000; prior to the vote, Serbia's electoral laws were reformed such that the entire country became a single electoral division and all mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the 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. Veselinović appeared in the 102nd position on the Radical Party's list and was not chosen for 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 2 July 2021.PRVA KONSTITUTIVNA SEDNICA, 22.01.2001., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 29 December 2001.
In February 2003, Veselinović warned that attempts to introduce the Bosniak language into official use in the Sandžak would create greater divisions between the Serb and Bosniak communities. He contended that the initiative was a cynical attempt by Ugljanin's political alliance to protect its support base and would be received poorly by the Serb population."Serbian party official warns of more 'divisions' over language issue," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 28 February 2003 (Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1508 gmt 28 Feb 03).
Member of the National Assembly and local official (2004–2012) 2004–2008 Veselinović was given the eighty-second 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), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 2 July 2021. The Radicals won eighty-two seats, emerging as the largest group in the assembly but falling well short of a majority and ultimately serving in opposition. Veselinović was not initially included in his party's delegation but was given a mandate on 17 February 2004 as the replacement for another party member.TREĆE VANREDNO ZASEDANJE, 17.02.2004., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 20 December 2022. In the assembly, he served on the education committee and the committee for inter-communal relations.СПИСАК НАРОДНИХ ПОСЛАНИКА: ВЕСЕЛИНОВИЋ, МИЛАН , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 20 December 2022.
Notwithstanding his membership in a Serbian nationalist party, Veselinović has frequently worked in conjunction with Bosniak parties in Novi Pazar. In the 2004 Serbian presidential election, he appealed to Bosniaks to vote for Radical Party candidate Tomislav Nikolić in the second round."Serbian Radical urge Sandžak Muslims to vote for Nikolić," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 23 June 2004 (Source: RV Novi Pazar, Novi Pazar, in Serbo-Croat 1700 gmt 23 Jun 04).
Serbia introduced the direct election of mayors in the early 2000s, and Veselinović ran as the SRS's candidate in Novi Pazar in the 2004 local elections. He was defeated, finishing fourth in the first round of voting. He also led the party's list in the concurrent election for the municipal assembly and was elected when the list won four seats.Službeni List (Opštine Novi Pazar), Volume 11 Number 10 (5 September 2004), 5 September 2004, p. 3.Službeni List (Opštine Novi Pazar), Volume 11 Number 12 (23 September 2004), p. 2.In the 2004 local elections, the first one-third of mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order. See Law on Local Elections , Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 33/2002; made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 29 May 2021. The overall results of the election were mixed: Ugljanin won the mayoral election, but his List for Sandžak coalition did not win a majority of seats in the local assembly. The rival Sandžak Democratic Party (Sandžačka demokratska partija, SDP) was able to form a local administration with other parties, including the Radicals; Veselinović was the main negotiator for the party's entry into the government, although he did not personally receive a seat on the municipal council (i.e., the executive branch of the local government)."Sve zakuvano u loncu Ljajića i radikala", Glas javnosti, 21 October 2004, accessed 20 December 2022.Direktorijum lokalnih samouprava u Srbiji, Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID), September 2005, p. 232.
The political scene in Novi Pazar was extremely tense in this period, and dual rule of Ugljanin and a SDP-led administration was unstable. The government of Serbia ultimately dissolved the local assembly and called a new assembly election for 11 September 2006."Za Ugljanina ili LJajića", Glas javnosti, 7 September 2006, accessed 17 November 2022. Ugljanin's List for Sandžak won a convincing victory, and the Radicals fell to two mandates.Novi Pazar,11. septembar, , Municipality of Novi Pazar, accessed 17 November 2022. See also "Novi Pazar: Hapšenja posle ubistva", B92, 11 September 2006, accessed 17 November 2022. Veselinović was personally re-elected to the assembly and served in opposition for the next two years. The direct election of mayors proved to be a short-lived experiment and was abolished after this time.
Veselinović was not a candidate for re-election to the national assembly in the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election.
2008–2012