Tomislav Bogunović

Tomislav Bogunović ( sr-cyr, Томислав Богуновић; born 15 December 1955) is a politician in Serbia. He was the mayor of Bač from 2000 to 2012 and served in the Assembly of Vojvodina during the same period. During his time as an elected official, Bogunović was a member of the Democratic Party (''Demokratska stranka'', DS).

Early life and career

Bogunović was born in Bačka Topola, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He moved to Bač the following year, completed high school in Bačka Palanka, graduated from the University of Novi Sad's Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and took post-graduate studies in Belgrade. He holds a master's degree in geographical sciences. He was also a professional football player and was a referee in the Yugoslav First League.

Politician

Bogunović contested the 1990 Serbian parliamentary election as an independent candidate in the "Bačka Palanka II & Bač" division. He was defeated by Radovan Pankov of the Socialist Party of Serbia. He joined the DS in 1995.

Municipal politics

The DS contested the 1996 Serbian local elections as part of the ''Zajedno'' (Together) alliance with the Serbian Renewal Movement and other parties. Bogunović was elected to the Bač municipal assembly that year as a ''Zajedno'' candidate and subsequently led the alliance's assembly group. In the 2000 local elections, he was re-elected to the assembly as a candidate of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia, a broad coalition of parties that included the DS. He became the municipality's mayor for the first time on 14 October 2000.

Serbia introduced the direct election of mayors for the 2004 local elections. Bogunović was re-elected to the position, defeating Socialist Party-endorsed candidate Milenko Babić in the second round of voting. The direct election of mayors was subsequently eliminated again, and Bogunović was chosen by the assembly for a third term after leading the DS to victory in the 2008 elections.

In 2010, Bogunović accompanied Serbian president Boris Tadić on a delegation to Vukovar in Croatia, where Tadič apologized on behalf of Serbia for the Ovčara massacre during the Croatian War in 1991.

Bogunović led the DS to another plurality victory for Bač in the 2012 local elections, but he was removed from power afterwards by a coalition of the Serbian Progressive Party and the Socialists. He again appeared at the head of the DS list in the 2016 local elections; this time. the list won only two seats out of twenty-five. He continued to serve in the local assembly until 2020 and was not a candidate in that year's local election, which the DS boycotted.

Assembly of Vojvodina

Bogunović was elected to the Assembly of Vojvodina for the Bač division in the 2000 Vojvodina provincial election. The Democratic Opposition of Serbia won a landslide victory in this election, and Bogunović served as vice-chair of the security committee and a member of the education committee.

Bogunović was re-elected for the Bač division in the 2004 and 2008 provincial elections. He was promoted to chair of the security committee after the 2004 election and continued in this role after 2008. In 2009, he was appointed to the newly created provincial security council. He was defeated in his bid for re-election in 2012. After this time, he served as deputy provincial secretary for health, social policy, and demography.

There were discussions that Bogunović would run for the provincial leadership of the DS in 2015, but this did not occur. After 2012, Vojvodina adopted a system of full proportional representation; Bogunović appeared in the seventieth position on the DS's electoral list in the 2016 Vojvodina provincial election and was not elected when the list won only ten mandates.

Bogunović also appeared on the DS's electoral lists for the National Assembly of Serbia in the 2007 and 2014 parliamentary elections, although he did not receive a mandate on either occasion.Bogunović received the sixty-fifth position on the party's list in 2016 and was not elected when it won only nineteen mandates. Se
Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (''СА ДЕМОКРАТСКОМ СТРАНКОМ ЗА ДЕМОКРАТСКУ СРБИЈУ'')
Republika Srbija – Republička izborna komisija, accessed 10 July 2021.

Electoral record

Assembly of Vojvodina

Municipality of Bač

National Assembly of Serbia

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bogunovic, Tomislav
1956 births
Living people
People from Bačka Topola
People from Bač, Serbia
Mayors of places in Serbia
Members of the Assembly of Vojvodina
Democratic Party (Serbia) politicians