Benjamina Karić (; born 8 April 1991) is a Bosnian politician serving as the 39th mayor of Sarajevo 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 Fo ...

since 2009. Karić was born in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajev ...

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 largest ...

. She later worked as an assistant at the Faculty of Law at the University of Travnik and in Kiseljak. Following the 2020 municipal elections, Karić became mayor of Sarajevo in 2021 as a replacement for Bogić Bogićević, 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 Yu ...

. She graduated from two faculties at the same time, the Faculty of Law, University of Sarajevo and the Department of History of the Faculty of Philosophy 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 ...

to Bosnian. In 2014, she was an assistant at the Faculty of Law, University of Travnik and in Kiseljak. 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 ...

, Bogić Bogićević, former member of the Presidency of Yugoslavia in the late 1980s and early 1990s, announced that he would accept the appointment as mayor of Sarajevo 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 Abdulah Skaka (born 5 December 1983) is a Bosnian politician and economist who served as the 38th mayor of Sarajevo from 2017 to 2021. Since 2013, he has been a member of the Party of Democratic Action. Early and personal life Skaka was born o ...

, becoming the second female in that office (the first being

Semiha Borovac Semiha Borovac (born 2 March 1955) is a Bosnian politician who served as the 35th Mayor of Sarajevo, holding office from 2005 until 2009. She is Sarajevo's first female mayor and is also a member of the Party of Democratic Action. Borovac was als ...

from 2005 to 2009). Upon her election, the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu congratulated Karić for her appointment as mayor, sending her his best wishes. On 4 May 2021, she met with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg 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 Draško Stanivuković (; born 21 May 1993) is a Bosnian Serb politician serving as mayor of Banja Luka since 2020. He is a member of the Party of Democratic Progress. From 2018 until 2020, Stanivuković was a member of the National Assembly of ...

, 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 Ljubiša Ćosić (born 2 October 1979 in Sarajevo) is a Bosnian Serb politician. Ćosić has a master's degree in economics and is a PhD student at the University of Banja Luka. Ćosić worked as interpreter for the OSCE, and as intern at the Parl ...

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. 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. H ...

located on the mountain Trebević. 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 A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Pe ...

, bike paths and excursion sites. On 12 November 2021, the Sarajevo City Administration put up a monument in Kazani, honoring ethnic Serbs living inside besieged Sarajevo, who were victims of a mass murder by the forces of Mušan Topalović, 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. ...

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 UDIK, the Association for Social Research and Communications ( Bosnian: ''Udruženje za društvena istraživanja i komunikacije''/ Удружење за друштвена истраживања и комуникације), is a Bosnian regional ...

, 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