Goran Rakovac

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Goran Rakovac (Serbian Cyrillic: Горан Раковац; born 1 September 1961) is a Serbian politician. He was the mayor of Velika Plana from 2000 to 2004 and served in the National Assembly of Serbia from 2004 to 2008 as a member of Democratic Party of Serbia (Demokratska stranka Srbije, DSS).

Private career[edit]

Rakovac holds a Bachelor of Laws degree.[1]

Politician[edit]

Rakovac received the twenty-second and final position on the DSS's electoral list for the Smederevo division in the 1993 Serbian parliamentary election. The list did not cross the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly.[2]

Mayor of Velika Plana[edit]

In 2000, the DSS became 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. DOS candidate Vojislav Koštunica defeated Milošević in the 2000 Yugoslavian presidential election, a watershed moment in Serbian and Yugoslavian politics. The DOS also won in several municipalities in the concurrent 2000 Serbian local elections; in Velika Plana, the alliance won a narrow majority victory with twenty out of thirty-nine seats in the local assembly.[3] Rakovac was elected to the assembly and was subsequently chosen as its president, a position that was at the time equivalent to mayor.[4] He also led the DSS's local municipal committee.[5]

The government of Serbia fell after Milošević's defeat in the Yugoslavian election, and a new Serbian parliamentary election was called for December 2000. Serbia's electoral system was reformed prior to the vote, such that the entire country became a single electoral division and all mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions, irrespective of numerical order.[6] Rakovac was given the 185th position on the DOS's list.[7] The list won a landslide majority with 176 out of 250 seats, and he was not initially given a mandate.

Relations between the DSS and the rest of the DOS were often fraught, and the party left the alliance in 2002. On 12 June of that year, the DOS controversially removed a number of DSS politicians from the national assembly. Some of the vacant mandates were awarded to DSS members from the 2000 electoral list; others were awarded to representatives of various other parties still in the DOS. Rakovac was among the DSS candidates who received a replacement mandate. The party contended that the removal of its sitting members was illegitimate, and the new DSS delegates (including Rakovac) refused to serve.[8] The appointments were later overturned on a technicality, and the original DSS members were returned to the assembly.

Rakovac served as mayor of Velika Plana until 2004, serving over a local coalition government that was fraught with serious divisions.[9][10] He also served for a time as president of Serbia's Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities.[11] He did not seek re-election as mayor in 2004.

Parliamentarian[edit]

The DSS contested the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election on its own, and Rakovac received the sixty-sixth position on its list.[12] The list won fifty-three mandates, and he was not initially included in the party's assembly delegation. He was, however, given a mandate on 12 February 2004 as the replacement for another party member.[13] The DSS was the dominant force in Serbia's coalition government in the assembly term that followed, and Rakovac served as a supporter of the administration. In his first parliamentary term, he was deputy president of the committee for local self-government and also served on the committee for constitutional affairs, the legislative committee, and the committee for justice and administration.[14]

For the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election, the DSS formed an electoral alliance with New Serbia (Nova Srbija, NS). Rakovac appeared in the fifty-first position on their combined list and was given a mandate for a second term when the list won forty-seven seats.[15][16] The DSS formed an unstable coalition government with the rival Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS) and G17 Plus after the election, and Rakovac again served as a supporter of the administration. In this term, he was a member of the legislative committee and the committee for local self-government.[17]

The DS–DSS alliance collapsed in early 2008, and a new election was held in May of that year. The DSS and NS once again contested the election on a combined list, and Rakovac was included in the sixty-ninth position.[18] The list won thirty seats, and he was not given a mandate for a third term. He has not sought a return to the assembly since this time.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 23. децембра 2000. године и 10. јануара 2001. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (4 Демократска опозиција Србије – др Војислав Коштуница (Демократска странка, Демократска странка Србије, Социјалдемократија, Грађански савез Србије, Демохришћанска странка Србије, Нова Србија, Покрет за демократску Србију, Лига социјалдемократа Војводине, Реформска демократска странка Војводине, Коалиција Војводина, Савез војвођанских Мађара, Демократска алтернатива, Демократски центар, Нова демократија, Социјалдемократска унија, Санxачка демократска партија, Лига за Шумадију, Српски покрет отпора – Демократски покрет), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 2 July 2021.
  2. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 19. и 26. децембра 1993. године и 5. јануара 1994. године – ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (8 Смедерево) and 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 30 July 2021.
  3. ^ Izbori, 2000. Za Odbornike Skupština Opština i Gradova, Bureau of Statistics – Republic of Serbia, p. 53-54.
  4. ^ "Za sednicu nedostaje kvorum", Glas javnosti, 14 November 2021, accessed 20 October 2022.
  5. ^ "Jagma za članskim kartama DSS i DS", Glas javnosti, 20 November 2000, accessed 20 October 2022.
  6. ^ 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 28 February 2017.
  7. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 23. децембра 2000. године и 10. јануара 2001. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (4 Демократска опозиција Србије – др Војислав Коштуница (Демократска странка, Демократска странка Србије, Социјалдемократија, Грађански савез Србије, Демохришћанска странка Србије, Нова Србија, Покрет за демократску Србију, Лига социјалдемократа Војводине, Реформска демократска странка Војводине, Коалиција Војводина, Савез војвођанских Мађара, Демократска алтернатива, Демократски центар, Нова демократија, Социјалдемократска унија, Санxачка демократска партија, Лига за Шумадију, Српски покрет отпора – Демократски покрет), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 2 July 2021.
  8. ^ "DSS napustio parlament", Glas javnosti, 13 June 2002, accessed 2 March 2022.
  9. ^ "Smenjen predsednik opštinske vlade", Glas javnosti, 18 February 2003, accessed 20 October 2022.
  10. ^ "Nesloga odlaže sednice", Glas javnosti, 28 February 2003, accessed 20 October 2022.
  11. ^ "Kodeks kao dokument i argument", Vreme, 10 June 2004, accessed 20 October 2022.
  12. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (3 ДЕМОКРАТСКА СТРАНКА СРБИЈЕ - ВОЈИСЛАВ КОШТУНИЦА), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 15 February 2021.
  13. ^ DRUGO VANREDNO ZASEDANJE, 12.02.2004., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 20 October 2022.
  14. ^ ДЕТАЉИ О НАРОДНОМ ПОСЛАНИКУ: РАКОВАЦ, ГОРАН, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-12-13. Retrieved 2022-10-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 20 October 2022.
  15. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (5 Демократска странка Србије - Нова Србија - др Војислав Коштуница), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 15 February 2021.
  16. ^ "Pravnici na vlasti", Novosti, 15 February 2007, accessed 20 October 2022.
  17. ^ ДЕТАЉИ О НАРОДНОМ ПОСЛАНИКУ: РАКОВАЦ, ГОРАН, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-11-12. Retrieved 2022-10-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 20 October 2022.
  18. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (3 Демократска Странка Србије - Нова Србија - Војислав Коштуница), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 15 February 2021.