Mustafa Džigal (; 1950 – 2014) was a Serbian politician from the country's ethnic Muslim community. He was the deputy mayor of Sjenica from 1992 to 1996, an assistant minister in the Serbian government from 1997 to 2000, and a member of the Yugoslavian parliament from 1999 to 2000. Džigal was a high-ranking member of the Yugoslav Left (JUL) in the late 1990s.
He is not to be confused with a different Mustafa Džigal, also from the Sjenica municipality, who was known for seeking legal redress for torture he experienced at the hands of Serbian police in 1994."Ostao bez pravde posle stravične torture", Radio Television of Vojvodina, 22 December 2015, accessed 29 April 2026.
Private career Džigal was from a prominent family in the Sjenica area, in Serbia's Sandžak region.Službeni glasnik (Opštinski Sjenica), Volume 20 Number 23 (8 November 2019), p. 34. He was a graduated economist."KANDIDATI ZA SAVEZNE POSLANIKE", uzice.net, 15 October 1996, accessed 14 March 2026.
Politician During the 1990s, Serbian political life was dominated by the authoritarian rule of Slobodan Milošević, leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). There was a widespread boycott of Serbian state institutions by Sandžak-area Muslims in the early 1990s, particularly after the beginning of the Bosnian War in 1992.
Deputy Mayor The May 1992 Serbian local elections did not produce a viable municipal authority in Sjenica due to the boycott, and on 8 October 1992 the Serbian government appointed a council to govern the municipality. The council's president was Radoslav Rakonjac of the Socialists; Džigal served as vice-president, a position that was equivalent to deputy mayor.Službeni Glasnik (Republika Srbije), Volume 48 Number 82 (13 November 1992), p. 2846. He remained in this role until the establishment of a new municipal government following the 1996 Serbian local elections, by which time the Bosnian War was over and the boycott had ended.Predsednici Sjenice, sjenica.com, accessed 29 April 2026.
In the same month that Džigal was appointed as council vice-president, he also founded an organization called the Movement for Peace and Harmony of Serbs and Muslims, which was intended to maintain the peace in Sjenica and the surrounding areas. In a 1994 interview, Džigal pointed to historically good relations between the two communities and looked forward to Serbs and Muslims living together in peace when the "great tragedy" of the Bosnian conflict was over. He also spoke against secessionist tendencies in the Sandžak, saying, "We believe that in today's Yugoslavia, all citizens, including Muslims, will be safe, and that they will be guaranteed personal and property security."Borba, 22 April 1994, p. 13.
Yugoslav Left official Džigal joined the Yugoslav Left on or shortly after its founding in 1994 and was elected to its directorate in March 1995.Borba, 27 March 1995, p. 4. In July 1996, he led a party forum discussion in Nova Varoš on relations between Serbs, Muslims, and other citizens; in his opening speech, he said, "People in these areas have realized that mono-national parties lead to nationalism, to regression, and therefore they welcomed with relief a movement in which there is a place for every well-intentioned citizen."Borba, 11 July 1996, p. 3.
The Yugoslav Left contested the 1996 Yugoslavian parliamentary election in an alliance with the Socialist Party and New Democracy (ND). Džigal appeared in the third position out of four on the alliance's electoral list for the Chamber of Citizens in the Užice division; the list won two seats, and he was not immediately elected."KANDIDATI ZA SAVEZNE POSLANIKE", uzice.net, 15 October 1996, accessed 14 March 2026.ИЗБОРИ '96: ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (1996), p. 53. (Under Yugoslavia's electoral law, only the first of the two SPS–JUL–ND mandates in Užice was automatically assigned in numerical order; the other mandate was assigned at the alliance's discretion to another candidate on the list."SPO deset, ostali 12 poslanika", Naša borba, 29 July 1997, accessed 25 January 2026. Lead candidate Milisav Čutović of the Yugoslav Left was automatically elected, and the "optional" mandate was given to fourth-ranked candidate Miroslav Stefanović of New Democracy.)Borba, 30 December 1996, p. 17.Borba, 11 February 1997, p. 1. The SPS–JUL–ND alliance and its Montenegrin allies won a majority victory overall in the assembly.
During the 1997 Serbian parliamentary election (in which he was not a candidate), Džigal said, "The fate of Serbs and Muslims is common and indivisible. It cannot be decided by [...] mono-national parties, especially not those with a nationalist character."Borba, 13 October 1997, p. 1. He was elected to the main board of the Yugoslav Left in July 1998.Borba, 21 July 1998, p. 4.
Assistant Minister in the Serbian Government Džigal was appointed in 1997 as assistant minister for local self-government,Borba, 29 August 1997, p. 11. working with JUL minister Zoran Modrinić in a government dominated by the SPS.
A new coalition government comprising the SPS, the JUL, and the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS) took office in early 1998. Džigal was re-assigned at this time as assistant minister of mining and energy.Borba, 24 April 1998, p. 4.
At the beginning of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in March 1999, Džigal said that the Kosovo War was being fought for the interests of "foreign mercenaries" and the United States of America. He added, "we will defend Serbia and Yugoslavia by force."Borba, 10 March 1999, p. 4.
Yugoslavian parliamentarian By August 1999, New Democracy's alliance with the Socialist Party and the Yugoslav Left had irrevocably broken down, and the three sitting members of New Democracy in the Chamber of Citizens had their mandates revoked. In Užice, Džigal was awarded a mandate in place of Stefanović. He served as a supporter of the administration."Yugoslav parliament sacks opposition MPs," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Newsfile, 17 August 1999 (Source: Yugoslav news agency Tanjug, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 17 Aug 99.).
Slobodan Milošević was defeated in the 2000 Yugoslavian presidential election and fell from power on 5 October 2000. Džigal was not a candidate in the 2000 Yugoslavian parliamentary election, which took place concurrently with the presidential vote,Borba, 25 August 2000, p. 4. and his term in the Chamber of Citizens ended at around the same time. Serbia's government also fell following the Yugoslavian vote, and Džigal's tenure as an assistant minister ended as well.
Death Džigal died in 2014.Službeni glasnik (Opštinski Sjenica), Volume 20 Number 23 (8 November 2019), p. 34.
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