Ilija Vojinović (Serbian Cyrillic: Илија Војиновић; born 5 August 1953) is a politician in Serbia. He was the mayor of Kikinda from 2009 to 2012 and served two terms in the Assembly of Vojvodina. Vojinović is a member of the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS).

Early life and private career edit

Vojinović was born in the village of Nakovo in Kikinda, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He graduated from the Faculty of Pedagogy and Technology in Zrenjanin and later worked as a professor and director at the technical high school in Kikinda. He was at different times the director of JKP "6.Oktobar" Kikinda and the acting director of JP "Autoprevoz" Kikinda.[1]

Politician edit

Local politics edit

Vojinović served two terms in the Kikinda municipal assembly before becoming mayor. From 1996 to 1999, during Paja Francuski's mayoralty, he was the president of the municipal assembly's executive board (i.e., effectively the municipality's first minister).[2]

He was given the twelfth position on the DS's For a European Kikinda electoral list for the 2008 Serbian local elections.[3] The list won fourteen mandates, and he was not initially included in his party's assembly delegation.[4][5] (For this election cycle, all mandates were assigned to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions, irrespective of numerical order.)[6] The Serbian Radical Party (Srpska radikalna stranka, SRS) won a plurality victory and initially formed government under incumbent mayor Branislav Blažić. In October 2008, shifting political alliances brought the DS to power with Jagoda Tolicki succeeding Blažić in the mayor's office.[7][8]

Tolicki later lost the support of many in her party and was removed as mayor. Vojinović was given a local assembly mandate on 17 June 2009 and, at the same session, was selected as Tolicki's replacement.[9] He served in this role for the next three years. In late 2009, he started the process of having Kikinda formally designated as a city.[10] Toward the end of his term, he apologized to Serbian human rights activist Nataša Kandić for a prior government's designation of her as persona non grata in Kikinda.[11]

Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that mandates in elections held under proportional representation were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order. Vojinović appeared in the second position on the DS's list for Kikinda in the 2012 local elections and was re-elected when the list won eleven mandates.[12][13] The DS again formed a local coalition government following the election; Vojinović, who was also elected to the provincial assembly and could not hold a dual mandate as mayor, he stood down from this role and was replaced by fellow DS member Savo Dobranić.[14] The following year, the Democrats fell from power and a new local government was formed by the Serbian Progressive Party (Srpska napredna stranka, SNS).[15]

Vojinović served as president of the DS municipal board after the 2012 election. The party was divided between two rival factions in this period, and opposition to Vojinović became particularly strong after the Progressives came to power.[16] He was ultimately removed in late 2013.[17] The party's board group in the local assembly eventually dissolved, and all of its members (including Vojinović) nominally served as independents.[18] He did not seek re-election at the local level in 2016.

Provincial politics edit

The DS contested 2000 Vojvodina provincial election as part of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Demokratska opozicija Srbije, DOS), a broad and ideologically diverse coalition of parties opposed to Slobodan Milošević's administration. The DOS won a landslide victory in the election, and Vojinović, who was elected for Kikinda's first division, served with the government's majority. He was a member of the assembly's budget and finance committee and the committee on urbanism, spatial planning, and environmental protection.[19]

Vojvodina adopted a system of mixed proportional representation for the 2004 provincial election. Vojinović appeared in the thirteenth position on the DS's electoral list; the list won fifteen mandates and was not selected for a mandate afterward.[20][21] (As in the 2008 local elections, Vojinović's specific list on the list had no formal bearing on his chances of election.) He was not a candidate in 2008 but was again elected for Kikinda's first division in the 2012 provincial election. The DS and its allies won a strong plurality victory in this cycle, and Vojinović again served as a government supporter for the next four years.

For the 2016 provincial election, Vojvodina moved to a system of full proportional representation. Vojinović was given the sixty-fourth position on the DS's coalition list and was not re-elected when the list won only ten mandates.[22]

Electoral record edit

Provincial (Vojvodina) edit

2012 Vojvodina assembly election
Kikinda I (constituency seat) - First and Second Rounds
[23]
Ilija Vojinović Coalition: Choice for a Better VojvodinaBojan Pajtić (Affiliation: Democratic Party) 2,513 17.66 6,013 50.65
Stanislava Hrnjak Let's Get Vojvodina MovingTomislav Nikolić (Serbian Progressive Party, New Serbia, Movement of Socialists, Strength of Serbia Movement) (Affiliation: Serbian Progressive Party) 2,989 21.00 5,859 49.35
Stevan Grbić Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS), United Serbia (JS), and Social Democratic Party of Serbia (SDP Serbia) 1,972 13.86
Goran Dumitrov "Data" U-Turn 1,947 13.68
Milan Mitrić League of Social Democrats of VojvodinaNenad Čanak 1,508 10.60
Imre Kabok Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians 960 6.75
Vladimir Pudar Democratic Party of Serbia 857 6.02
Neca Bajšanski Citizens' Group: Strength of Kikinda 784 5.51
Želimir Bajić United Regions of Serbia–Karolj Damjanov 701 4.93
Total valid votes 14,231 100 11,872 100
2000 Vojvodina assembly election
Kikinda I (constituency seat)
[24]
Candidate Party or Coalition Result
Ilija Vojinović Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Affiliation: Democratic Party) elected
Branko Prolić Serbian Radical Party
other candidates

References edit

  1. ^ Челници локалне самоуправе, Archived 2012-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, Municipality of Kikinda, 30 April 2012, accessed 3 December 2021.
  2. ^ Челници локалне самоуправе, Archived 2012-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, Municipality of Kikinda, 30 April 2012, accessed 3 December 2021.
  3. ^ Službeni List (Opštine Kikinda), Volume 43 Number 6 (1 May 2008), p. 86.
  4. ^ Službeni List (Opštine Kikinda), Volume 43 Number 9 (16 May 2008), pp. 102-103.
  5. ^ Službeni List (Opštine Kikinda), Volume 43 Number 12 (3 June 2008), p. 111.
  6. ^ See Law on Local Elections (2007, amended 2011), made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 29 May 2021.
  7. ^ Službeni List (Opštine Kikinda), Volume 43 Number 12 (3 June 2008), p. 113.
  8. ^ "Jagoda Tolicki nova predsednica opštine Kikinda", Radio Television of Vojvodina, 20 October 2008.
  9. ^ "Ilija Vojinović - novi predsednik Opštine Kikinda", Kikinda Online, 17 June 2009, accessed 3 December 2021.
  10. ^ "Pirot i Kikinda žele status grada", B92, 24 December 2009, accessed 3 December 2021.
  11. ^ M.D. Milikić, "Nataša Kandić više nije nepoželjna", Danas, 18 January 2012, accessed 3 December 2021.
  12. ^ Službeni List (Opštine Kikinda), Volume 47 Number 7 (25 April 2012), p. 60.
  13. ^ Službeni List (Opštine Kikinda), Volume 47 Number 10 (14 May 2012), pp. 113-115.
  14. ^ M. Ivetić, "Kikinda: Odbornici čekaju nalog dve centrale", Novosti, 16 September 2012, accessed 28 November 2021.
  15. ^ "Novi čelnici u Kikindi preuzeli dužnost", Radio Television of Vojvodina, 17 September 2013, accessed 29 November 2021.
  16. ^ Rada Šegrt, "Raskol u kikindskom DS", Blic, 28 November 2013, accessed 3 November 2021.
  17. ^ Ilija Vojinović, istinomer.rs, accessed 3 December 2021.
  18. ^ Одборници, Archived 2015-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, Municipality of Kikinda, 29 March 2015, accessed 3 December 2021.
  19. ^ Odbori Skupštine AP Vojvodine "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2004-06-12. Retrieved 2021-12-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, 12 June 2004, accessed 3 December 2021.
  20. ^ РЕШЕЊЕ О УТВРЂИВАЊУ ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ ЗА ИЗБОРЕ ЗА ПОСЛАНИКЕ У СКУПШТИНУ АУТОНОМНЕ ПОКРАЈИНЕ ВОЈВОДИНЕ, 19. СЕПТЕМБРА 2004. ГОДИНЕ, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.
  21. ^ Convocation 2004 - 2008, Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, accessed 3 December 2021.
  22. ^ Изборне листе за изборе за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне покрајине Војводине (Изборна листа 2 - ЗА ВОЈВОДИНУ РАДА И ЗНАЊА – ДЕМОКРАТСКА СТРАНКА, ДСХВ, НОВА, ЗЕП-ЗЕЛЕНИ – ДР БОЈАН ПАЈТИЋ), Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia, accessed 11 May 2018.
  23. ^ Source: Резултати избора за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне Покрајине Војводине по већинском изборном систему (2012) (21 Кикинда I), Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia, accessed 8 August 2017.
  24. ^ Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне Покрајине Војводине одржаних 24. септембра и 8. октобра 2000. године, Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia, accessed 29 July 2021; Velika Srbija [Radical Party publication], Volume 11 Number 1201 (Belgrade, September 2000), p. 6.