Bojan Torbica

Bojan Torbica (Serbian Cyrillic: Бојан Торбица; born 25 July 1974) is a politician in Serbia. He has served in the National Assembly of Serbia since 2016 as a member of the Movement of Socialists (Pokret socijalista, PS).

Early life and career

Torbica was born in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, at the time part of the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He has a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Novi Sad. Torbica moved to Temerin in 2002 to work as director of Radio Temerin and subsequently became the director of the Lukijan Mušicki cultural centre.[1] He lives in the town of Bački Jarak in Temerin.[2]

Political career

Torbica was appointed as one of Novi Sad's four deputy mayors in January 2013, with responsibility for the economy. He served in this position until his election to parliament in June 2016.[3][4]

He attracted some media attention in 2015 for stating that Croatia's Operation Storm (1995) was "an illegitimate action taken by the Croatian Army, police, and paramilitary units in the area under United Nations (UN) protection," the principle objective of which was "not to ensure the territorial integrity of the Republic of Croatia, but exclusively to banish citizens of Serbian nationality from their homes." He added that Croatia had failed to adequately combat anti-Serb sentiments among its population and called on the country's leadership to establish better neighbourly relations.[5]

The Movement of Socialists has been aligned with the Serbian Progressive Party since 2010,[6] and the party contested the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election as part of the Progressive Party's Aleksandar Vučić – Serbia Is Winning electoral list. Torbica received the forty-seventh position on the list and was elected when it won a landslide victory with 131 out of 250 mandates.[7] During the 2016–20 parliament, the Movement of Socialists served in a parliamentary group with the People's Peasant Party and the United Peasant Party.[8] Torbica was a member of the assembly committee on constitutional and legislative issues and the committee on labour, social issues, social inclusion, and poverty reduction; a deputy member of the culture and information committee and the European integration committee; and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Argentina, Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, China, Cuba, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Russia, Spain, the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Venezuela.[9]

Torbica was physically attacked by unknown assailants in Kosovska Mitrovica in January 2017. He later said that the attack was politically motivated and that he had been targeted for his support of Prime Minister Vučić's administration.[10]

He again received the forty-seventh position on the Progressive Party's coalition list in the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election.[11] The list won a landslide victory with 188 mandates out of 250, and he was elected to a second term.

Torbica is the leader of the provincial branch of the PS in Vojvodina.[12]

References
  1. "Torbica novi pomoćnik gradonačelnika", www.021.rs, 16 January 2013, accessed 11 July 2018.
  2. BOJAN TORBICA, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 11 July 2018.
  3. "Torbica novi pomoćnik gradonačelnika", www.021.rs, 16 January 2013, accessed 11 July 2018.
  4. BOJAN TORBICA, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 11 July 2018.
  5. "Serbian Politician Calls Croatia's 1995 Operation Storm Crime Against Serbs," Sputnik News Service, 3 April 2015.
  6. "Two Serbian opposition parties to form pre-election coalition," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 1 November 2010 (Source: Vecernje novosti website, Belgrade, in Serbian 29 Oct 10).
  7. Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (АЛЕКСАНДАР ВУЧИЋ - СРБИЈА ПОБЕЂУЈЕ) Archived 2018-04-27 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  8. Socialists’ Movement - People’s Peasant Party - United Peasant Party Parliamentary Group, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 11 July 2018.
  9. BOJAN TORBICA, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 11 July 2018.
  10. "Torbica: Napali su me zbog politike Aleksandra Vučića", Blic (Source: Tanjug), 27 January 2017, accessed 11 July 2018.
  11. "Ko je sve na listi SNS za republičke poslanike?", Danas, 6 March 2020, accessed 30 June 2020.
  12. "PS: Neka Pajtić pazi šta želi, moglo bi mu se ispuniti", Blic (Source: Tanjug), 24 April 2015, accessed 11 July 2018.
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