Nikola Babić (; born 1942) is a Serbian politician from the country's Bunjevac community. He was the first leader of Serbia's Bunjevac National Council, serving in the role from 2002 to 2010, and was later a council vice-president for most of the period from 2010 to 2022. He also served in the Vojvodina provincial assembly from 1992 to 1993 and the Subotica city assembly from 1996 to 2000. Babić was the leader of the Bunjevac-Šokac Party (BŠS) for several years but was expelled from the successor Bunjevac Party in 2005.
Private career Babić is a graduated engineer.Službeni List (Opština Subotice), Volume 40 Number 39 (8 September 2004), p. 12.
Politician Provincial representative Babić was elected to the Vojvodina assembly for Subotica's sixth division in the May 1992 provincial election. He was the only member of the Bunjevac-Šokac Party to be elected; Ivan Vojnić Tunić, a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), was also elected with a dual endorsement from the Socialists and the BŠS.Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне Покрајине Војводине 31. маја и 14. јуна 1992. године, , Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia, accessed 30 March 2025. The SPS and its allies won a landslide majority victory overall, due in part to a boycott by many of Serbia's leading opposition parties.Milan Milošević, "Round Table of the Government and Opposition", Vreme, 18 May 1992, accessed 18 May 2025.Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне Покрајине Војводине 31. маја и 14. јуна 1992. године, , Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia, accessed 30 March 2025.
Due to ongoing skepticism about the legitimacy of the May 1992 elections, a new provincial election was called for December of the same year. Babić sought re-election in Subotica's sixth division and was defeated by Zvonimir Kiš.Magyar Szó, 15 December 1992, p. 6.Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне Покрајине Војводине на превременим изборима одржаним 20. децембра 1992. године, , Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia, accessed 25 June 2025. When the new assembly convened in early 1993, Babić's mandate ended. He later led the BŠS's electoral list for the Zrenjanin division in the 1993 Serbian parliamentary election; the list did not win any seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 19. и 26. децембра 1993. године и 5. јануара 1994. године – ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (2 Зрењанин), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 February 2024.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 19. и 26. децембра 1993. године и 5. јануара 1994. године – РЕЗУЛТАТИ ИЗБОРА (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 7 February 2024.
Babić became BŠS leader in 1994, succeeding Miroslav Vojnić Hajduk.Žig, 30 July 1994, p. 3. It will be noted that this source was hostile to the Bunjevac-Šokac Party. He spoke against the Manifesto for an Autonomous Vojvodina in February 1996, saying, "We Bunjevac people are against the creation of a state within a state, because we expect that the constitutional and legal regulations of Serbia and Yugoslavia will provide us with the right to preserve our name and identity."Borba, 6 February 1996, p. 9.
City representative Babić was elected to the Subotica city assembly for the city's sixty-fifth division (Tavankut II) in the 1996 Serbian local elections. No single party or coalition won a majority of seats in the election; the governing Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (VMSZ) won the most seats but was required to share power with rival parties afterward.Magyar Szó, 4 January 1997, pp. 1, 7.
The BŠS continued its affiliation with the Socialist Party of Serbia in the 1997 Serbian parliamentary election, and Babić appeared in the fifth position out of six on the SPS's coalition list in the restructured Subotica division.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997. године – ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (5 Суботица), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 February 2024. The list won two seats, and he was not given a mandate.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 30 July 1997. (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. Babić could have been given the SPS coalition's "optional" mandate for the division, but he was not.)
He sought re-election to the Subotica assembly in the 2000 Serbian local elections and was defeated by Branko Horvat of the Croatian National Alliance (HNS), who ran as part of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) coalition.
Bunjevac community leader President of the Bunjevac National Council Serbia's Bunjevac National Council was established in 2002. Its members were initially chosen by an electoral college of community leaders; Babić was elected to the council and became its first president, serving in the role from 2002 to 2010.Nacionalni savit od 2002. do 2010. godine, Bunjevac National Council, accessed 11 September 2025. After the council was established, the Bunjevac-Šokac Party changed its name to the Bunjevac Party.
Serbia adopted a system of proportional representation for local elections after 2000. Notwithstanding that he was the party's leader, Babić appeared in only the sixteenth position on the Bunjevac Party's electoral list in the 2004 local election in Subotica. The list did not cross the electoral threshold to win assembly representation.Službeni List (Opština Subotice), Volume 40 Number 39 (8 September 2004), p. 12.Službeni List (Opštine Subotica), Volume 40 Number 43 (20 September 2004), pp. 1-3.
By 2005, Darko Babić had succeeded Nikola Babić as leader of the Bunjevac Party."Prijete i zahtjevom za zabranu DSHV-a", Hrvatska riječ, 22 July 2005, accessed 5 September 2025. In September 2005, Nikola Babić was expelled from the party. The officially stated reason was that the party disapproved of his decision to take part in the Dužijanac harvest ceremonies in his capacity as council president."Nikola Babić isključen iz Bunjevačke stranke", Hrvatska Riječ, 9 September 2005, accessed 11 September 2025.
Although Babić does not appear to have been a member of any political party in the late 2000s, he contested the 2008 Serbian parliamentary election on the electoral list of Mirko Bajić's Alliance of Bačka Bunjevci (SBB), appearing the second position.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (18 САВЕЗ БАЧКИХ БУЊЕВАЦА - МИРКО БАЈИЋ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024. The list did not cross the electoral threshold. In the concurrent 2008 local elections for the Subotica assembly, he did not participate in Bajić's coalition but instead led the electoral list of the Bunjevac Party of Vojvodina (BSV), a different organization from the Bunjevac Party.Službeni List (Opštine Subotica), Volume 44 Number 12 (29 April 2008), p. 7. The list won a single mandate, which was not assigned to Babić but to party leader Branko Francišković.Službeni List (Opštine Subotica), Volume 44 Number 12 (12 May 2008), p. 2.Službeni List (Grada Subotica), Volume 44 Number 20 (3 July 2008), p. 2. (In the 2008 local elections, all mandates were assigned to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions, irrespective of numerical order.)Law on Local Elections (2007) , Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 129/2007); made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 29 May 2021. The Bunjevac Party finished last in Subotica under Darko Babić's leadership and dissolved soon afterward.Dušan Kovačev, "Bunjevci neće 'putovnicu'", Nova srpska politička misao, 4 March 2010, accessed 5 September 2025.
Babić's last year as council president was dominated by a rivalry with the Bunjevac Information Centre, led by Suzana Kujundžić Ostojić.Vesela Laloš, "Sukob Saveta i institucija", Danas, 17 August 2009, accessed 20 September 2025. He was removed as president on somewhat technical grounds in January 2010. The Serbian government contended that the council had fallen below its required quorum in July 2009, when eight of the twenty-one council members resigned their seats. Babić objected to this decision, arguing that the council did not have a legally defined quorum and was still functioning as intended."Nikola Babić tvrdi da BNS radi po zakonu", subotica.info, 20 August 2009, accessed 13 September 2025."Press konferencije bunjevačke grupe građana", subotica.info, 21 January 2010, accessed 13 September 2025."Privremena uprava do novih izbora", Hrvatska riječ, 29 January 2010, accessed 13 September 2025. Notwithstanding this, he ultimately agreed to stand down and cede power to a temporary authority."Tribamo radit zajedno!", subotica.info, 23 January 2010, accessed 13 September 2025.
Vice-President of the Bunjevac National Council Serbia introduced direct elections for most national minority councils, including the Bunjevac National Council, in 2010. Babić fielded a list called "Bunjevci for Bunjevci" in that year's election and returned to council when the list won three seats."Who represents minorities?", Vreme, 10 June 2010, accessed 13 September 2025. A broad coalition government took shape after the election, and Babić was appointed as council vice-president."Izgradnja nacionalnog doma najvažniji zadatak", 13 July 2010, accessed 13 September 2025. He continued in this role after a coalition reshuffle in 2011."PROMINE U BUNJEVAČKOM NACIONALNOM SAVITU", Bunjevački Information Center, 30 June 2011, accessed 13 September 2025.
A new political party called the Bunjevac Party was established in January 2012 and was officially registered with the Serbian government the following month."Регистроване нове две странке, 87 укупно", Radio Television of Vojvodina, 8 March 2012, accessed 5 September 2025. While it was not technically a successor to Babić's former party, there were some connections between the two organizations. Babić himself was a nominal candidate for the new party in the 2012 local election in Subotica, appearing in the tenth position on its list (by this time, Serbia's electoral laws had been reformed such that all mandates were assigned in numerical order).Službeni List (Grada Subotica), Volume 48 Number 23 (25 April 2012), p. 12. The list won one seat and afterward participated in the local government."Modest Dulić novi gradonačelnik Subotice", Radio Television of Vojvodina, 10 July 2012, accessed 5 September 2025.Službeni List (Grada Subotice), Volume 48 Number 30 (7 May 2012), pp. 2-3.