Goran Pekarski

Goran Pekarski (Serbian Cyrillic: Горан Пекарски; born 1965) in a politician in Serbia. He has served in the National Assembly of Serbia since 2016, originally as a member of New Serbia and subsequently with the Serbian Progressive Party.

Early life and career

Pekarski was born in Belgrade, then part of the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He is trained as an economist.[1] In a 2011 interview, he indicated that he fought in the 1991–95 war between Serbia and Croatia and was wounded in action in 1992.[2]

Political career

Pekarski joined the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka; DS) in 1996. He was the party's leader in Belgrade's Kaluđerica neighbourhood and was active with the party in the municipal assembly of Grocka. He left the party in December 2000, frustrated with its lack of focus, and joined the Democratic Alternative (Demokratska Аlternativa; DA) the following year.[3] He appeared on the DA's electoral list for the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election; the list did not cross the electoral threshold required to win representation in the assembly.[4]

He left the DA in 2004 when it merged into the Social Democratic Party and founded a citizens' group called "Power of Citizens," which won three seats in Grocka in the 2004 local elections and four in the 2008 elections.[5] For the 2012 local elections, "Power of Citizens" joined an electoral alliance led by the Socialist Party of Serbia; Pekarski appeared in the alliance's first list position in Grocka and also received the 102nd position on the Socialist-led list for the City Assembly of Belgrade.[6]

Pekarski later joined New Serbia and at one time served in the party's presidency.[7]

Member of the National Assembly

New Serbia contested the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election on the Progressive Party's Aleksandar Vučić – Serbia Is Winning list, and Pekarski was given the 248th position (out of 250) on the list. This was too low a position for direct election to be a realistic prospect, and he indeed he was not initially elected despite the list winning a majority with 131 seats.[8] He was, however, awarded a mandate on December 9, 2016, as a replacement for New Serbia member Velimir Stanojević, who had resigned to take a government position.[9][10]

New Serbia initially supported Serbia's Progressive-led coalition government after the 2016 election, but this arrangement came to an end in January 2017 when party leader Velimir Ilić broke with prime minister Aleksandar Vučić. Ilić's decision precipitated a split in New Serbia, with three of its five assembly members leaving the party and continuing to support Vučić's government. The other two New Serbia assembly members, Pekarksi and Miroslav Markićević, remained with the party and moved into opposition, joining with four other parliamentarians to create a new assembly group called New Serbia–Movement For Serbia’s Salvation.[11] In Pekarski's case, the move was temporary; on October 17, 2017, he left New Serbia and became a member of the Progressive Party.[12]

Pekarski is a member of the assembly's security services control committee, a deputy member of the European Union–Serbia stabilization and association parliamentary committee, and a member of the parliamentary friendship group with Greece.[13]

References
  1. GORAN PEKARSKI, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 18 May 2018.
  2. "Intervju: Goran Pekarski", Grocka Info, 22 December 2011, accessed 18 May 2018.
  3. "Intervju: Goran Pekarski", Grocka Info, 22 December 2011, accessed 18 May 2018.
  4. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ДЕМОКРАТСКА АЛТЕРНАТИВА - НЕБОЈША ЧОВИЋ) Archived 2017-07-26 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 18 May 2018. Pekarski received the 236th position (out of 250) on the list. From 2000 to 2011, electoral mandates were awarded to parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for the mandates to be given to candidates out of numerical order. Pekarski's low position on the list would not have automatically prevented him from receiving a mandate, although the party's failure to cross the threshold rendered the point moot.
  5. "Intervju: Goran Pekarski", Grocka Info, 22 December 2011, accessed 18 May 2018.
  6. Official Journal (службени лист), City of Belgrade, 25 April 2012, pp. 15, 98.
  7. GORAN PEKARSKI, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 18 May 2018.
  8. 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.
  9. Додела мандата » Одлука о додели мандата народног посланика ради попуне упражњеног посланичког места у Народној скупштини од 9. децембра 2016. године“) Archived 2018-06-12 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 4 July 2017.
  10. Serbia's 2011 electoral reforms stipulate that, in the event of the resignation of a member elected on a coalition list, the vacant mandate will fall to the first candidate on the list from the same party who was not awarded a mandate. See Law on the Election of Members of the Parliament (2000, as amended 2011) (Article 92) made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 28 February 2017.
  11. "Formiran novi klub u Skupštini: Nismo klub Vuka Jeremića", N1, 3 February 2017, accessed 18 May 2018.
  12. "Poslanik Nove Srbije Goran Pekarski prešao u SNS", N1, 17 October 2017, accessed 18 May 2018. As of May 2018, the website of the National Assembly of Serbia indicates that Pekarski is a member of the Progressive Party's parliamentary group but not a member of the party itself. Other sources, including the one here listed, confirm that he is a party member.
  13. GORAN PEKARSKI, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 18 May 2018.
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