Misala Pramenković (Serbian Cyrillic: Мисала Праменковић; born 22 December 1980) is a Serbian politician. An ethnic Bosniak, she served in the National Assembly of Serbia from 2020 to 2022 as a member of the Justice and Reconciliation Party (Stranka pravde i pomirenja, SPP). She is currently a member of the Novi Pazar city assembly and of Serbia's Bosniak National Council.

Misala Pramenković
Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia
In office
3 August 2020 – 1 August 2022
Personal details
Born (1980-12-22) 22 December 1980 (age 43)
Tutin, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Political partyBDZ Sandžak
(2013–2017)
SPP
(2017–present)
OccupationPolitician

Early life and private career edit

Pramenković was born in the village of Moroni in Tutin, in the Sandžak region of what was then the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. She graduated from the Gazi Isa-beg school in Novi Pazar, continued her education at the Faculty of Islamic Studies at the University of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and earned a master's degree and a Ph.D. from the International University in Novi Pazar. She has published widely in her field.[1]

Politician edit

Early years (2010–20) edit

Serbia organized the first direct elections for the country's national minority councils in 2010. Pramenković was elected to the Bosniak National Council that year on the electoral list of Chief Mufti Muamer Zukorlić's Bosniak Cultural Community, which won seventeen mandates, as against thirteen for the Bosniak List led by Sulejman Ugljanin and five for the Bosniak Renaissance list of Rasim Ljajić.[2][3] These results were extremely contentious, and the legitimacy of the Bosniak Cultural Community's victory was contested by both the Serbian government and Ugljanin's party. The council's responsibilities were officially suspended soon after the election, although Zukorlić's group continued to oversee what it described as council meetings in defiance of the government's decision.[4]

Pramenković became a member of the Bosniak Democratic Union of Sandžak (Bošnjačka demokratska zajednica Sandžaka, BDZ Sandžak) on its formation in 2013. The BDZ Sandžak contested the 2014 Serbian parliamentary election on the Liberal Democratic Party's electoral list, and Pramenković was included in the 123rd position.[5] The list did not cross the electoral threshold for assembly representation.

A new election was organized for the Bosniak National Council in 2014, and Pramenković received the sixth position on Zukorlić's For Bosniaks, Sandžak and the Mufti list. The only other list to appear on the ballot was Ugljanin's For Bosniak Unity. Ugljanin's list won the election, nineteen seats to sixteen.[6] Zukorlić's group initially raised concerns about electoral fraud but ultimately accepted the results, and Pramenković served as a member of the opposition.[7][8]

Pramenković appeared in the third position on the BDZ Sandžak's list in the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election and narrowly missed election when the list won two seats.[9] She also received the third position on the party's list for the Novi Pazar city assembly in the concurrent 2016 Serbian local elections and was elected when the list won ten seats.[10][11] The BDZ Sandžak was restructured as the Justice and Reconciliation Party in 2017, and she became a member of the new party.

Pramenković was promoted to the third position on the Mufti's list for the 2018 Bosniak National Council election and was re-elected when the list won thirteen seats.[12][13] As in 2014, Zukorlić's list was narrowly defeated by Ugljanin's. Following the election, Ugljanin's group formed a coalition with a third list aligned with Ljajić, and the Zukorlić faction remained in opposition.[14]

Parliamentarian (2020–22) edit

Pramenković received the third position on the SPP's list in the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election and was elected when the list won four mandates.[15] The Serbian Progressive Party (Srpska napredna stranka, SNS) and its allies won a landslide majority victory in the election; the SPP did not afterward join Serbia's SNS-led coalition government but provided it with outside support. In parliament, Pramenković was a member of the committee on the rights of the child (and its working group for initiatives, petitions, and proposals), a deputy member of the committee on the diaspora and Serbs in the region, and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.[16] She attracted some attention as the first elected representative in the Serbian national assembly to wear a hijab; in a 2021 interview, she said that she had not experienced any discrimination on this basis.[17][18]

She also received the tenth position on the SPP's list for the Novi Pazar assembly in the 2020 local elections and was re-elected when the list won eleven mandates.[19]

Pramenković was given the fourth position on the SPP's list in the 2022 Serbian parliamentary election.[20] The list won three mandates, and she was not re-elected. She is now the next candidate slated to enter the assembly if any of elected SPP members leave in the current term.

2022 Bosniak National Council election edit

Pramenković is currently leading the SPP's electoral list for the Bosniak National Council in the 2022 national minority council elections, which will take place on 13 November.[21]

References edit

  1. ^ Dr. Misala Pramenković Potpredsjednica, Justice and Reconciliation Party, accessed 10 October 2022.
  2. ^ Izvještaj o formiranju Bošnjačke kulturne zajednice i izborima za Bošnjačko nacionalno vijeće, Bosniak Cultural Community, accessed 9 October 2022.
  3. ^ "Ko su budući vijećnici u BNV-u?", Sandžak Press, 21 June 2010, accessed 10 October 2022.
  4. ^ Gordana Andric, "Serbia Reshuffle Fuels Bosniak Council Vote Confusion", Balkan Insight, 17 March 2011, accessed 21 April 2017.
  5. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (4 ЧЕДОМИР ЈОВАНОВИЋ - ЛДП, БДЗС, СДУ), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 29 September 2022.
  6. ^ Избори за чланове националног савета бошњачке националне мањине, одржани 26. октобра и 2. новембра 2014. године (непосредни избори), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 24 September 2022.
  7. ^ "Bosniak party chief declares election victory in minority councils elections," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 4 November 2014 (Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 0000 gmt 3 Nov 14).
  8. ^ "Serbia's new ethnic council to resolve disputes among Bosniaks - chairman," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 2 December 2014 (Source: Politika website, Belgrade, in Serbian 27 Nov 14).
  9. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 24. април 2016. године – Изборне листе (8 МУАМЕР ЗУКОРЛИЋ / MUAMER ZUKORLIĆ - БОШЊАЧКА ДЕМОКРАТСКА ЗАЈЕДНИЦА САНЏАКА / BOŠNJAČKA DEMOKRATSKA ZAJEDNICA SANDŽAKA), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 24 September 2022.
  10. ^ Službeni List (Grada Novog Pazara), Volume 23 Number 2 (12 April 2016), p. 29.
  11. ^ Službeni List (Grada Novog Pazara), Volume 23 Number 4 (27 April 2016), pp. 1-3.
  12. ^ Избори за чланове националних савета националних мањина 2018. године, 4. новембар 2018. године – Проглашене изборне листе (Национални савет БОШЊАЧКЕ националне мањине), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 24 September 2022.
  13. ^ Избори за чланове националних савета националних мањина 2018. године, 4. новембар 2018. године – Укупни резултати избора за националне савете националних мањина (Национални савет БОШЊАЧКЕ националне мањине), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 24 September 2022.
  14. ^ Filip Rudić, "Election Sees Power Shift in Serbia’s Bosniak Council", Balkan Insight, 26 November 2018.
  15. ^ ИЗБОРИ ЗА НАРОДНЕ ПОСЛАНИКЕ НАРОДНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, 21. ЈУН 2020. ГОДИНЕ – Изборне листе (8 Академик Муамер Зукорлић – Само право – Странка правде и помирења (СПП) – Демократска партија Македонаца (ДПМ)/ Akademik Muamer Zukorlić – Samo pravo – Stranka pravde i pomirenja (SPP) – Demokratska partija Makedonaca (DPM)/ Академик Муамер Зукорлић – Само право – Странка на правда и помиреније (СПП) – Демократска партија на Македонците (ДПМ)), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 27 October 2021.
  16. ^ MISALA Prof. Dr PRAMENKOVIC, Archived 2021-12-07 at the Wayback Machine, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 10 October 2022.
  17. ^ Nevena Bogdanović, "The first state parliamentarian wearing a hijab: A new page in the political life of Serbia", Radio Slobodna Evropa, 5 August 2020, accessed 10 October 2022.
  18. ^ Mirjana R. Milenković, "Misala Pramenković: Sa SNS smo partneri, ali ne razmišljamo o ujedinjenju", Danas, 22 May 2021, accessed 10 October 2022.
  19. ^ Službeni List (Grada Novog Pazara), Volume 27 Number 7 (8 June 2020), p. 3.
  20. ^ "Ko su kandidati za parlamentarne izbore Stranke pravde i pomirenja?", Danas, 20 February 2022, accessed 24 September 2022.
  21. ^ "SPP izlazi na izbore za BNV: Nosilac liste dr. Misala Pramenković", Sandžak Press, 12 September 2022, accessed 10 October 2022.