Benjamina Karić (; born 8 April 1991) is a Bosnian politician serving as the 39th

mayor of Sarajevo This is a list of people who have served as mayor or president of the city council of the city of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sarajevo has had 38 different mayors in 39 different mayorships since the position was created on 22 ...

since 2021. She has been a member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

since 2009. Karić was born in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

in 1991. She graduated from the

University of Sarajevo The University of Sarajevo ( Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian: ''Univerzitet u Sarajevu'' / Sveučilište u Sarajevu / Универзитет у Сарајеву) is a public university located in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the larges ...

. She later worked as an assistant at the Faculty of Law at the

University of Travnik University of Travnik ( Bosnian: Univerzitet u Travniku, UNT) is a private university located in Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The university was established in 2007. The motto of the university is— "Science to Success". Courses The univers ...

and in

Kiseljak Kiseljak (Кисељак) is a town and municipality located in Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies in the valley of the Fojnica River, the Lepenica and the Kreševka ...

. Following the 2020 municipal elections, Karić became mayor of Sarajevo in 2021 as a replacement for

Bogić Bogićević Bogić Bogićević ( sr-cyr, Богић Богићевић; born 15 May 1953) is a Bosnian politician. He served as the 5th Bosnian member of the Yugoslav Presidency from 1989 until its abolishment in 1992. Bogićević was also a member of the ...

, who decided to pull out of the candidacy for mayor shortly before.

Early life and education

Karić was born on 8 April 1991 in

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

. She graduated from two faculties at the same time, the

Faculty of Law, University of Sarajevo The University of Sarajevo Faculty of Law ( bs, Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Sarajevu), also known as the Sarajevo Law School, is one of the leading schools of the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The school is located in Sarajevo ...

and the Department of History of the

Faculty of Philosophy A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

in Sarajevo. Karić is a recipient of the Silver Badge of the

for Outstanding Achievement in Undergraduate and Postgraduate Studies. She is an author of fifty publications, books, articles and translations from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

to Bosnian. In 2014, she was an assistant at the Faculty of Law,

and in

. Karić joined the

at the age of 18 in 2009, becoming the party's vice president ten years later, in 2019.

Mayor of Sarajevo (2021–present)

Following the

2020 Bosnian municipal elections Municipal elections were held in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 15 November 2020 to elect mayors and assemblies in 143 municipalities. Originally scheduled for 4 October, they were postponed due to a lack of funds. Occurring under the backdrop of the ...

, former member of the

Presidency of Yugoslavia The Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ( sr, Председништво СФРЈ, Predsedništvo SFRJ, Bosnian and hr, Predsjedništvo SFRJ, sl, Predsedstvo SFRJ, mk, Председателство на СФРЈ, Preds ...

in the late 1980s and early 1990s, announced that he would accept the appointment as

by the four-party liberal coalition set to govern the

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

after the elections, which includes the

(SDP BiH). However, on 24 March 2021, he decided to pull out of the candidacy because of conflicts in the coalition. This set the stage for Karić, with the SDP BiH announcing that she would be the new candidate for the office of mayor on 5 April 2021. Three days later on 8 April, Karić was unanimously elected by members of the City Council of

to become the 39th mayor of the city, replacing Abdulah Skaka, becoming the second female in that office (the first being Semiha Borovac from 2005 to 2009). Upon her election, the

mayor of Istanbul This is a list of mayors of Istanbul, Turkey. This covers the Ottoman Empire to the modern day; the name of the city in English is Constantinople during the Ottoman period and in the Republican era until 1930. Ottoman Empire During 1453–18 ...

Ekrem İmamoğlu Ekrem İmamoğlu (; born 4 June 1970) is a Turkish businessman, real estate developer, and politician serving as the 32nd Mayor of Istanbul. He was first elected with 4.1 million votes and won with a margin of 13,000 votes against his AKP opponen ...

congratulated Karić for her appointment as mayor, sending her his best wishes. On 4 May 2021, she met with Austrian Foreign Minister

Alexander Schallenberg Alexander Georg Nicolas Schallenberg (; born 20 June 1969) is an Austrian diplomat, jurist and politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Chancellor Karl Nehammer since 2021, previously holding the office from ...

in Sarajevo, upon his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. In June 2021, Karić visited the northwestern Bosnian city of

Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city of Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is also the ''de facto'' capital of this entity. I ...

, where she met with its mayor Draško Stanivuković, marking this event the first time after 26 years, and since the end of the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

, that the mayors of both Sarajevo and Banja Luka, as the two largest cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, have met each other. Later during that same month, Karić and

Istočno Sarajevo Istočno Sarajevo ( sr-cyr, Источно Сарајево, lit. "East Sarajevo") is the ''de jure'' capital city of Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It consists of a few suburban areas of pre-war Sarajevo which are now includ ...

mayor Ljubiša Ćosić signed a memorandum on the construction of a

bike path A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...

, planned to connect Sarajevo and the town of

Pale Pale may refer to: Jurisdictions * Medieval areas of English conquest: ** Pale of Calais, in France (1360–1558) ** The Pale, or the English Pale, in Ireland *Pale of Settlement, area of permitted Jewish settlement, western Russian Empire (179 ...

. On 30 June, the city's authorities launched a project to rebuild the

astronomical observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

located on the mountain

Trebević Trebević ( sr-cyrl, Требевић) is a mountain in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, located to the southeast of Sarajevo, in the territory of East Sarajevo city, bordering Jahorina mountain. Trebević is tall, making it the second shortest ...

. On 8 July 2021, she visited

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

and there met with its mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. On 17 July, the eve of her 100th day in office, Karić revealed plans for constructions of a large

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to resi ...

, bike paths and excursion sites. On 12 November 2021, the Sarajevo City Administration put up a monument in Kazani, honoring

ethnic Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

living inside besieged Sarajevo, who were victims of a mass murder by the forces of

Mušan Topalović Mušan "Caco" Topalović (20 April 1957 – 26 October 1993) was a Bosnian gangster and warlord from Sarajevo, commander of the 10th Mountain Brigade in the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Caco was also a smuggler, thief and gangs ...

, commander of the 10th Mountain

Brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. Br ...

in the

Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( bs, Armija Republike Bosne i Hercegovine or ARBiH), often referred to as Bosnian Army, was the military force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was established by the government of ...

during the Bosnian War. On 15 November, Karić and High Representative Christian Schmidt unveiled the monument. UDIK, which was one of initiators of the monument, and families of the victims did not attend the unveiling after it was revealed that the perpetrators' names would be omitted from the plaque.

Personal life

Karić is married and has one child. She lives with her family in

. She is fluent in English and German.

References

Sources

External links

Benjamina Karić
at Facebook {{DEFAULTSORT:Karic, Benjamina 1991 births Living people Politicians from Sarajevo University of Sarajevo faculty 21st-century women politicians Politicians of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina politicians Mayors of Sarajevo Women mayors of places in Bosnia and Herzegovina