Vidoje Jovanović (; born 3 August 1961) is a Serbian politician and administrator. He was the mayor of Ljubovija from 2000 to 2008 and served in the Serbian parliament from 2007 to 2008. Jovanović is a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).
Early life and private career Jovanović was born in the village of Vrhpolje in the municipality of Ljubovija, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He was educated at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Security Studies and has worked as a professor. He worked at the secretariat for national defence from 1986 to 1991, oversaw the defense department in Ljubovija between 1991 and 1993, and was head of the defense department in the federal ministry of defense from 1994 to 2000.Пословодство: Видоје Јовановић, Yugoimport, accessed 7 December 2024.
Jovanović became head of the Ljubovija operations center in the Serbian ministry of internal affairs in 2014. In June 2023, he was promoted to head of the operations center in Šabac. He also works for Yugoimport SDPR.Пословодство: Видоје Јовановић, Yugoimport, accessed 7 December 2024.
Politician Mayor and parliamentarian Jovanović appeared in the seventh position (out of seven) on the Socialist Party's electoral list for the Valjevo division in the 1997 Serbian parliamentary election. The Socialists won three seats in the division, and he was not assigned a mandate.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997. године – ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (13 Шабац), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 February 2024.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, , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 February 2024.PRVA SEDNICA, 03.12.1997., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 7 December 2024. (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. Jovanović could have been given a mandate despite his list position, but he was not.)
The Socialist Party dominated Serbian and Yugoslavian politics from 1990 to 2000 under the authoritarian leadership of Slobodan Milošević. Milošević was defeated in the 2000 Yugoslavian presidential election, a watershed moment in Serbian politics. The Socialists also lost the concurrent 2000 Serbian local elections in most major urban centres. In Ljubovija, a smaller community on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Socialists won a majority victory and remained in power.Izbori, 2000. Za Odbornike Skupština Opština i Gradova, Bureau of Statistics – Republic of Serbia, p. 51. Jovanović was chosen after the election as president of the local assembly, a position that was at the time equivalent to mayor."Sokolov tup tup", Vreme, 29 November 2001, accessed 7 December 2024.
The Serbian government fell after Milošević's defeat in the Yugoslavian election, and a new Serbian parliamentary election was called for December 2000. Prior to the election, Serbia's electoral laws were reformed such that the entire country became a single electoral division and all mandates were assigned 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 6 June 2021. Jovanović appeared in the seventy-ninth position on the SPS's list. The party won thirty-seven 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 (3 Социјалистичка партија Србије – Слободан Милошевић), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024.PRVA KONSTITUTIVNA SEDNICA, 22.01.2001., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 29 December 2001. He later appeared in the hundredth position on the party's list for the 2003 parliamentary election and was not given a mandate when the list won twenty-two seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (9. СОЦИЈАЛИСТИЧКА ПАРТИЈА СРБИЈЕ - СЛОБОДАН МИЛОШЕВИЋ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024.27 January 2004 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 20 December 2024.
Serbia introduced the direct election of mayors for the 2004 local elections, and Jovanović was re-elected as mayor of Ljubovija.
For the 2007 parliamentary election, Jovanović appeared in the 103rd position on the SPS's list.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (11 Социјалистичка партија Србије), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024. The party won sixteen seats, and, on this occasion, he was given a mandate.14 February 2007 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 5 March 2017. The Democratic Party (DS), Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), and G17 Plus formed an unstable coalition government after the election, and the Socialists served in opposition. During his assembly term, Jovanović served on the committee for local self-government.Детаљи о народном посланику: ЈОВАНОВИЋ, ВИДОЈЕ , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 December 2024. There was initially some controversy over his ability to hold a dual mandate as a mayor and parliamentarian, though ultimately he was able to serve in both roles.M. Čerekovac, "O sukobu interesa odlučivaće sud", Politika, 26 March 2007, accessed 7 December 2024. In his last year as mayor, two rival coalitions claimed to hold a majority in the local assembly. As a directly elected mayor, Jovanović's position in the local government was not in jeopardy."Dve skupštine i dva predsednika", Vreme, 26 April 2007, accessed 7 December 2024.
Since 2008 Serbia's coalition government fell apart in early 2008, and a new parliamentary election was held in May of that year. Jovanović was given the 102nd position on the SPS list and did not receive a mandate for a new term when it won twenty seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (5 Социјалистичка партија Србије (СПС), - Партија уједињних пензионера Србије (ПУПС) - Јединствена Србија (ЈС)), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024.11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 5 March 2017. The overall results of the election were inconclusive, and the Socialists afterward held discussions with the Democratic Party of Serbia and the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) about forming a new coalition government. This ultimately did not happen, and the Socialists instead joined a coalition government led by the For a European Serbia (ZES) alliance.
The direct election of mayors proved to be a short-lived experiment and was abandoned with the 2008 local elections, which were held concurrently with the parliamentary vote. In Ljubovija, the Socialist Party's alliance won the election but fell short of a majority.Lokalni Izbori 2008, Bureau of Statistics, Republic of Serbia, p. 51. Initially, the second-place Democratic Party formed a new coalition government, and the Socialists moved into opposition. Following a political realignment in 2009, the Socialists re-entered government in a coalition with the DS.Jugoslav Trijić, "Dva predsednika na platnom spisku", Blic, 10 February 2010, accessed 7 December 2024. Jovanović served as an assistant to the mayor from 2009 to 2012.Пословодство: Видоје Јовановић, Yugoimport, accessed 7 December 2024.
Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that all mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order.Law on the Election of Members of the Parliament (2000, as amended 2011) (Articles 88 & 92) made available via LegislationOnline, , accessed 6 June 2021. The SPS's alliance won the 2012 Serbian local elections in Ljubovija, and Jovanović was appointed as deputy mayor."Mićić predsednik opštine", Blic, 20 July 2012, accessed 7 December 2024. After 2014, he again served as assistant to the mayor."U oktobru izgradnja mosta Ljubovija- Bratunac", Alternativna TV, 5 August 2015, accessed 7 December 2024.
Jovanović appeared in the 110th position on the Socialist Party's list in the 2014 Serbian parliamentary election and was not elected when the list won forty-four seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (3 Демократска странка Србије - Војислав Коштуница), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 13 April 2024. He was re-elected to the Ljubovija local assembly in the 2016 local elections and resigned in either 2017 or 2018.Скупштина општине, , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 December 2024.See Скупштина општине, , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 December 2024; and Скупштина општине, , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 December 2024. These sources do not clarify in which year he resigned.
Jovanović appeared in the third position on the SPS's list for Ljubovija in the 2020 local elections and was re-elected when the list won nine seats.Službeni List (Opštine Ljubovija), 2020 Number 11 (6 June 2020), p. 2.Službeni List (Opśtine Ljubovija), 2020 Number 13 (22 June 2020), pp. 3–5. He was not sworn in afterward and appears to have declined his mandate.Službeni List (Opštine Ljubovija), 2020 Number 15 (17 August 2020), p. 4. In early 2023, he was identified as chair of the municipal staff in Ljubovija's local administration."Jovanović: Opština Ljubovija planira veća ulaganja za opremanje jedinice civilne zaštite", Vidiksacera, 3 March 2023, accessed 7 December 2024. He was a nominal candidate in the 2023 local elections, appearing in the twenty-sixth position out of twenty-seven on the SPS list, and was not elected when the list won ten seats.ИВИЦА ДАЧИЋ - ПРЕМИЈЕР СРБИЈЕ, Local Election 17 December 2023, Ljubovija Municipal Election Commission, accessed 7 December 2024.Službeni List (Opštine Ljubovija), 2023 Number 29 (31 December 2023), p. 1.Službeni List (Opštine Ljubovija), 2024 Number 1 (5 January 2024), pp. 2-3.
Electoral record Local (Ljubovija)
References