Gordana Čomić

Gordana Čomić (Serbian Cyrillic: Гордана Чомић; born 16 June 1958) is a politician in Serbia. She has served in the National Assembly of Serbia since 2001 and is currently a deputy speaker of the assembly. Čomić was also a member of the Assembly of Vojvodina from 1996 to 2004. She was a member of the Democratic Party until May 2020, when she was excluded from the party from opposing its boycott of the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election.[1]

Gordana Čomić
Гордана Чомић
Vice President of the National Assembly of Serbia
Assumed office
23 April 2014
PresidentTomislav Nikolić
Aleksandar Vučić
Personal details
Born (1958-06-16) 16 June 1958
Novi Sad, SFR Yugoslavia
(now Serbia)
NationalitySerbian
Political partyDemocratic Party
(1990–2020)
Independent
(2020-present)
Alma materUniversity of Novi Sad
OccupationPolitician

Early life and career

Čomić was born in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. She trained as a physicist and was an employee of the University of Novi Sad from 1984 to 1999, working in the Faculty of Technical Sciences. From 1999 to 2004, she worked in marketing for JP SPC Vojvodina. Čomić joined the Democratic Party's Novi Sad municipal board in 1992, became a spokesperson for the party at the city and provincial level, was president of its Novi Sad electoral headquarters in 1996, and served as president of the Vojvodina Democratic Party organization from 1998 to 2001.[2]

Čomić appeared on the Democratic Party's electoral lists in the 1992 and 1993 elections for the National Assembly of Serbia, running both times in the Novi Sad electoral division. She was not included in her party's parliamentary delegation on either occasion.[3] (From 1992 to 2000, Serbia's electoral law stipulated that one-third of parliamentary mandates would be assigned to candidates from successful lists in numerical order, while the remaining two-thirds would be distributed amongst other candidates on the lists by the sponsoring parties. Čomić was not listed high enough on either occasion to win an automatic mandate, nor was she granted a mandate by the Democratic Party.)[4]

She was elected to the Vojvodina assembly for Novi Sad's thirteenth electoral district in the 1996 parliamentary election[5] and led the opposition group in the assembly from 1996 to 2000. Re-elected for Novi Sad's tenth district in 2000, she served as the assembly's deputy speaker from 2000 to 2001.[6] At the municipal level, she was a member of Novi Said's executive committee in 1997.[7]

Member of the National Assembly

2000–12

Serbia's electoral map was redrawn for the 2000 election, with the entire country becoming a single constituency. Čomić received the twenty-first position on the electoral list of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia, a broad coalition that included the Democratic Party.[8] The list won a landslide majority with 176 out of 250 mandates, and Čomić was selected as part of its parliamentary delegation. (From 2000 to 2011, parliamentary mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for the mandates to be distributed out of numerical order. Čomić did not automatically receive a mandate by virtue of her position on the list, though she was nonetheless chosen as a Democratic Party representative.)[9] She became a vice-president of the Democratic Party in 2001[10] and served as a deputy speaker of the assembly.

In October 2003, Čomić controversially delayed a vote of no-confidence in the government of Zoran Živković. Čomić was a supporter of Živković, and some opposition members charged that the delay was simply a bid a to buy more time for the government to build a working majority.[11] In the same period, she oversaw a motion of non-confidence in assembly speaker Nataša Mićić.[12] Neither motion was ultimately successful, and Mićić dissolved the assembly for new elections on November 13, 2003. The Democratic Party contested the 2003 parliamentary election at the head of its own alliance, and Čomić received the sixth position on its list.[13] The list won thirty-seven mandates, and she was again chosen as part of her party's assembly delegation.[14] The rival Democratic Party of Serbia emerged at the head of a coalition government after the election, and the Democratic Party served in opposition.

In January 2004, Čomić supported Živković's campaign against Boris Tadić for the vacant Democratic Party leadership.[15] It was reported that Tadić responded by blocking Čomić from becoming the new assembly speaker, a position she had expected to receive.[16] Tadić was chosen as party leader in early 2004, and Čomić was defeated in her concurrent bid for re-election as a party vice-president.[17]

She continued to serve as a deputy speaker in the parliament that followed,[18] chaired the Serbian parliamentary committees for international relations and European integration,[19] and in 2006 was appointed as part of Serbia's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA).[20] She supported Serbia's integration into the European Union and criticized what she regarded as efforts to increase Serbia's dependence on Russia.[21] In 2006, she worked with parliamentarians from Montenegro on a regional charter of minority rights.[22]

Čomić was again selected as part of the Democratic Party's parliamentary delegation following the 2007 and 2008 elections.[23] The Democratic Party returned to participation in government in 2007 and became the dominant force in a coalition government in 2008. In the latter year, Čomić was once again chosen as a deputy speaker of the assembly.[24] She indicated her support for the Statute of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in January 2009, arguing that it was not a separatist document (as some had suggested) and that it would benefit both Vojvodina and Serbia as a whole.[25]

Since 2012

Serbia's electoral system was reformed once again in 2011, such that parliamentary mandates were awarded in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. Čomić was given the fifteenth position on the Democratic Party's Choice for a Better Life coalition list in the 2012 election and was re-elected when the list won sixty-seventh mandates.[26] This election was won by the Serbian Progressive Party and its allies, and the Democratic Party moved into opposition. Čomić continued to serve in Serbia's OSCE PA delegation and was selected by the organization as a rapporteur for human rights and migration.[27]

In November 2013, Čomić headed an OSCE PA delegation overseeing the 2013 Tajikistani presidential election.[28] She was critical of the way the election was handled, saying, "While quiet and peaceful, this was an election without a real choice. Being in power requires abiding by OSCE commitments, not taking advantage of incumbency, as we saw here. Greater genuine political pluralism will be critical for Tajikistan to meet its democratic commitments."[29] Čomić later advocated for the OSCE PA's Baku Declaration.[30] She stood down from her membership in the OSCE PA in 2014.[31]

Čomić received high positions on the Democratic Party-led lists in the 2014 and 2016 elections and was easily re-elected both times.[32] She was chosen as a deputy speaker after both elections,[33] and in 2014 she was again selected as a party vice-president.[34] She has also served as her party's critic on defence issues.[35] The Democratic Party has remained in opposition throughout this time.

Čomić was an early supporter of Saša Janković's bid for president of Serbia in the 2017 election.[36]

She is currently the deputy chair of the parliamentary committee on constitutional and legislative issues; a member of the committees on Kosovo-Metohija, health and family, European integration, and the rights of the child; a deputy member of two other committees; a deputy member of the Serbia's delegation to the South-East European Cooperation Process parliamentary assembly; and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.[37]

She was expelled from the Democratic Party in early 2020 after a parliamentary session while her party was boycotting the institution.[38] She is currently seeking re-election to the assembly, holding the fourth position on the electoral list of the United Democratic Serbia alliance.[39]

Čomić started writing a blog in 2006, began using Twitter in 2010, and is known among Serbian politicians as a prominent user of social media.[40]

gollark: The future is WASM VMs on every architecture.
gollark: Surely SOME knowledge is transferable.
gollark: In servers it might eventually, and in laptops.
gollark: In some areas it already has.
gollark: ARM is beginning to take over from x86, though.

References
  1. "Чомић обавештена да је избрисана из чланства у ДС", Politika, 15 May 2020, accessed 18 June 2020.
  2. Gordana Comic, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 5 April 2017.
  3. The Democratic Party ran in an alliance with the Reformist Democratic Party of Vojvodina in Novi Sad for the 1992 election. Čomić received the twenty-fourth position on the alliance's electoral list in Novi Sad; the list won two seats. See ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (6 Нови Сад) and Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 20. и 27. децембра 1992. године и 3. јануара 1993. године, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 5 April 2017. In 1993, Čomić received the seventh position on the Democratic Party's list in Novi Sad; the list won four seats. See ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (6 Нови Сад) 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, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 5 April 2017.
  4. Guide to the Early Election, Ministry of Information of the Republic of Serbia, December 1992, made available by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, accessed 14 July 2017.
  5. Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне Покрајине Војводине одржаних 3. и 17. новембра 1996. године, Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia, accessed 5 April 2017.
  6. 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 5 April 2017.
  7. Gordana Comic, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 5 April 2017.
  8. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 23. децембра 2000. године и 10. јануара 2001. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (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) Archived 2018-07-19 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 30 March 2017.
  9. 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.
  10. Gordana Comic, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 5 April 2017.
  11. Misha Savic, "Serbian government under threat of no-confidence vote, possible early elections," Associated Press Newswires, 14 October 2003.
  12. "Date of confidence vote in Serbian government to be set after debate," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 23 October 2003 (Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1813 gmt 23 Oct 03).
  13. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ДЕМОКРАТСКА СТРАНКА - БОРИС ТАДИЋ) Archived 2017-07-26 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 5 April 2017.
  14. "Serbia: Democratic Party submits list of assembly deputies," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 14 January 2004 (Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in English 1518 gmt 14 Jan 04).
  15. "Serbia: DS main committee members back Zivkovic's nomination for party chairman," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 18 January 2004 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1712 gmt 18 Jan 04).
  16. "Democratic Party proposes Tadic for Serbian president, Zivkovic for premier," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 25 January 2004 (Source: Radio Belgrade in Serbian 1400 gmt 25 Jan 04); "Serbia: DSS official notes difficulties in reaching agreement with DS," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 1 February 2004 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1620 gmt 31 Jan 04).
  17. Her candidacy for the position is mentioned in "Report sees "interesting' battle ahead for deputy chairman posts in Serbia's DS," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 6 February 2004 (Source: Politika, Belgrade, in Serbian 4 Feb 04). The fact that her term ended in 2004 is mentioned in Gordana Comic, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 5 April 2017.
  18. Gordana Comic, National Assembly of Serbia (version from 31 December 2014, stored by the Internet Archive, accessed 5 April 2017.
  19. "DIARY - Serbia and Montenegro - To May 29," Reuters News, 20 April 2005; "Serbian Assembly deputies say they found out about NATO accord from media," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 20 July 2005 (Source: Radio Belgrade in Serbian 1300 gmt 20 Jul 05).
  20. "Serbia appoints delegations to European bodies," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 21 June 2006.
  21. "Pro-Western parties criticize Serbia's premier over EU comments," Associated Press Newswires, 22 June 2006; "Speaker regrets Serbia not Russian province, vows it will not be EU colony," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 9 May 2007 (Source: Source: TV Pink, Belgrade, in Serbian 1715 gmt 8 May 07).
  22. "WESTERN BALKANS MPS DEBATE EU ACCESSION, WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL AND VISAS AT EP," US Fed News, 27 June 2006.
  23. She received the thirteenth position on the Democratic Party's list in 2007; the list won sixty-four mandates. See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Демократска странка - Борис Тадић) Archived 2018-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 5 April 2017. She received the 244th position on the party's For a European Serbia list in 2008, due to the fact that the list was largely arranged in alphabetical order. The list won 102 mandates. See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ЗА ЕВРОПСКУ СРБИЈУ - БОРИС ТАДИЋ) Archived 2018-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 5 April 2017.
  24. "Serbian assembly elects six deputy Speakers," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 26 June 2008 (Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 1308 gmt 26 Jun 08).
  25. "Serbian opposition officials say Vojvodina Statue encourages separatism," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 16 January 2009 (Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 0856 gmt 16 Jan 09).
  26. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ИЗБОР ЗА БОЉИ ЖИВОТ- БОРИС ТАДИЋ) Archived 2018-07-24 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 January 2017.
  27. "The OSCE is concerned about the reduction of its offices," Turan Information Agency (Azerbaijan), 24 October 2013. In 2015, she was described as chair of the OSCE's PA’s committee on democracy, human rights and humanitarian questions. See "Stronger OSCE field presence, civil society co-operation and human rights focus recommended at PA seminar," ForeignAffairs.co.nz, 29 May 2015.
  28. "Polls Open In Tajik Presidential Election," Radio Free Europe Documents and Publications, 6 November 2013.
  29. "Tajik Elections Short of Democratic Standards: OSCE," Dow Jones International News, 7 November 2013.
  30. "OSCE PA Annual Session: Migrants' rights, political prisoners at core of human rights committee resolution," News Press, 20 June 2014.
  31. Gordana Comic, National Assembly of Serbia (version from 31 December 2014, stored by the Internet Archive, accessed 5 April 2017.
  32. She received the sixth position in 2014 and the fifth position in 2016. See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (СА ДЕМОКРАТСКОМ СТРАНКОМ ЗА ДЕМОКРАТСКУ СРБИЈУ) Archived 2018-05-06 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 30 March 2017; and Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (ЗА ПРАВЕДНУ СРБИЈУ – ДЕМОКРАТСКА СТРАНКА (НОВА, ДСХВ, ЗЗС)) Archived 2018-04-27 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 30 March 2017.
  33. See "Gojkovic elected Serbian parliament speaker," Xinhua News Agency, 23 April 2014.
  34. "Serbian opposition party gets new leader," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 2 June 2014 (Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 0000 gmt 2 Jun 14).
  35. "Serbian paper sees political backdrop behind helicopter crash," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 13 April 2015 (Source: Politika website, Belgrade, in Serbian 11 Apr 15).
  36. "Serbian ex-minister seen preparing for presidential race," British Broadcasting Corporation Broadcasting European, 2 January 2017 (Source: Vecernje novosti website in Serbian 28 Dec 16).
  37. Gordana Comic, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 5 April 2017.
  38. "Čomić: Odluka o mom isključenju iz DS-a je već doneta". Dnevni list Danas (in Serbian). 2020-02-08. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  39. ИЗБОРИ ЗА НАРОДНЕ ПОСЛАНИКЕ НАРОДНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, 21. ЈУН 2020. ГОДИНЕ Изборне листе (УЈЕДИЊЕНА ДЕМОКРАТСКА СРБИЈА (Војвођански фронт, Србија 21, Лига социјалдемократа Војводине, Странка модерне Србије, Грађански демократски форум, ДСХВ, Демократски блок, Заједно за Војводину, Унија Румуна Србије, Војвођанска партија, Црногорска партија)), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 16 June 2020.
  40. "Serbian expert says parties unaware of potential of internet, social networking," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 27 May 2010 (Source: Danas website, Belgrade, in Serbian 26 May 10); "Serbian politicians turn to Twitter to express views without "censorship"- paper," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 31 January 2012 (Source: Vecernje novosti website, Belgrade, in Serbian 23 Jan 12).
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