Tomislav Nikolić

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tomislav Nikolić
Speaker of Parliament of Serbia
In office May 8, 2007 – May 13, 2007
Preceded by	Predrag Markovic
Succeeded by	Oliver Dulić
Born	February 15, 1952 (1952-02-15) (age 56) Kragujevac, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia
Nationality	Serb
Political party	Serbian Radical Party
Spouse	Dragica Nikolić
Children	Radomir, Branislav
Residence	Belgrade, Serbia
Profession	Construction Technician
Religion	Serbian Orthodox

Tomislav Nikolić (Serbian: Томислав Николић, listen (help·info)) (born February 15, 1952) is the deputy leader of the Serbian Radical Party. He is temporarily serving as the leader of the SRS because Vojislav Šešelj, the current leader, is on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He served as Speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia between May 8, and May 13, 2007 and was Minister in the coalition government of Slobodan Milošević from 1998 to 2000.

Nikolić has published thirteen books as of 2005, mostly about politics. He and his wife Dragica (née Ninković) have two sons, Radomir and Branislav. ^[1]

Contents 1 Biography 2 Politics 2.1 Presidential campaign, 2000 2.2 Presidential campaign, 2003 2.3 Presidential campaign, 2004 2.4 Presidential campaign, 2008 3 Accusations of war crimes by Nataša Kandić 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Biography

Nikolić was born in Kragujevac. He trained as a construction technician, finishing in his home town as an average student in the elementary school and the Technical High School. After dropping out of the Faculty of Law of the city's University he got a job and worked at the construction company "Žegrap". He led the construction of the Belgrade - Bar railway, as well as conducting other works in Majdanpek, Priboj, Prijepolje, Trebinje, Belgrade and elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia. He headed the investments department of the company "22. decembar" for twelve years. For two years he was the technical director of the communal works in Kragujevac.

[edit] Politics

In the 1990s, he became a member of the People's Radical Party, which merged with the Serbian Chetnik Movement to form the Serbian Radical Party. Nikolić became a member of the new party on January 23, 1991. He was soon elected the party's vice-president, and at the last three Congresses of Serbian Radicals he was elected deputy president.

Nikolić has been a deputy in the National Assembly of Serbia since 1991, the only one to be elected continuously since that year. During the rule of Slobodan Milošević and the Socialist Party of Serbia, he and Šešelj were sentenced to three months in prison which he served in Gnjilane.

However, in March 1998 Nikolić's Serbian Radical Party formed a coalition with the Socialist Party of Serbia and Nikolić became the vice-president of the Government of Serbia and, by the end of 1999, the vice-president of the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Parliamentarians elected Nikolić the Speaker of Parliament on May 8, 2007. Nikolić defeated Milena Milošević of the Democratic Party by 142 to 99 votes out of 244 members of Parliament. The Democratic Party of Serbia endorsed him.^[2] Hajredin Kuci of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Ylli Hoxha of the Reformist Party ORA, and Prime Minister of Kosovo Agim Çeku condemned the election of Nikolić as "counterproductive and dangerous for Kosovo".^[3] On May 9 Nikolić met with Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Alekseyev and gave a speech to Parliament in which he advocated making Serbia part of a Belarus-Russia superstate, saying that together they would "stand up against the hegemony of America and the European Union."^[4]

He resigned from his position as speaker on May 13 after the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Serbia formed a preliminary alliance in preparation for a coalition government. He was the Speaker with the shortest mandate in the history of parliamentary democracy in the Balkans.^[2][5] Nikolić told the Democratic parties that if they "peacefully accept" the independence of Kosovo the Radical Party "will not sit calmly and wait."^[5]

[edit] Presidential campaign, 2000

Nikolić ran in the FR Yugoslavia presidential election of 2000, finishing in third place behind Vojislav Koštunica and Slobodan Milošević.

[edit] Presidential campaign, 2003

Nikolić also ran in the 2004 Serbian presidential election where he achieved most votes in the first round with 46,23%, ahead of Dragoljub Mićunović, but the results of the election were invalid due to a turnout of only 38,80%.

[edit] Presidential campaign, 2004

Nikolić made yet another bid for presidency in the Serbian presidential elections, 2004. In the first round, he received 30.1% of the vote and Boris Tadić received 27.3%. In the second round held on June 27, Nikolić lost to Tadić having only secured 45.4% of the vote, while Tadić obtained 53.7%.

[edit] Presidential campaign, 2008

Tomislav Nikolić ran again for presidency in the 2008 presidential election. His slogan was With All Heart (Serbian: Свим срцем, Svim srcem). On January 20, 2008, Nikolić again won the first round with 39.99% of the vote. Nikolić and incumbent Boris Tadić, who got 35.39% of the vote, then faced each other in a runoff election on February 3. Nikolić lost to Tadić receiving 2,197,155 or 47.97% of votes.^[6]

[edit] Accusations of war crimes by Nataša Kandić

In 2005, the Humanitarian Law Center asked the War Crimes Prosecution Office to investigate a massacre committed in the village of Antin in Eastern Slavonia, Croatia in August 1991. Survivors claimed that it was committed by the members of volunteer units “Šešelj’s followers”, among whom Tomislav Nikolić was mentioned. The inspiration for initiating such a claim were previous statements of Nikolić regarding his involvement in the Yugoslav wars. He was awarded a title of chetnik voivode by Vojislav Šešelj for “showing by a personal example how one should fight for the Serb ideal in the battles in Slavonia”.^[7]

The suspicion that Nikolić had taken part in the killing of civilians in Antin was first raised by Žarko Korać, a member of the National Assembly of Serbia, who first revealed information about the Antin massacre in an interview to RFE in June 2005. In the same month, Vladimir Popović, former chief of the Government Communications Bureau, revealed more details in the interview to B92 Insajder saying that he had learned about these allegations from Jovica Stanišić, former head of State Security. ^[8] Nataša Kandić, human rights activist, wrote in a public letter that she was in possession of evidence that indicates Nikolić had personally participated in the killing of elderly residents of Antin.^[9]

Nikolić did not deny claims that he was stationed in Antin at the time, but has stated that there were no civilian deaths in Antin and that he himself never fired a bullet.^[10]Tomislav Nikolić filed a lawsuit on September 12, 2005, as Kandić stated on B92 that "some civilians in the Croatian village of Antin suffered under his hand in 1991."^[11] (The Serbian Radical Party then accused the NGO of spreading anti-Serbian sentiments.^[1] The Croatian ministry of the interior however stated that they do not have any information on Nikolić's offences in Antin.^[11]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Presidential Campaign Website 2008
• Biography at B92
• Speeches and statements of the Serbian politicians from 1987 - 2007

Preceded by Predrag Marković

Speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia May 8, 2007–May 13, 2007

Succeeded by Oliver Dulić

v • d • e Speakers of the National Assembly of Serbia Slobodan Unković | Aleksandar Bakočević | Zoran Lilić | Zoran Anđelković | Dragan Tomić | Dragan Maršićanin | Nataša Mićić | Vojislav Mihailović | Predrag Marković | Tomislav Nikolić | Oliver Dulić

Persondata
NAME	Nikolić, Tomislav
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Serbian politician
DATE OF BIRTH	February 15, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kragujevac
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH