Goran Ješić ( sr-Cyrl, Горан Јешић; born 3 August 1974) is a Serbian politician. A former vice president of the Democratic Party (DS), he served as the vice president of the

Government of Vojvodina The Provincial Government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina () is the executive organ of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, within the Republic of Serbia. For its actions it is accountable to the Assembly of Vojvodina. The rights and duti ...

from 2012 to 2014 and as the mayor of

Inđija Inđija (, ) is a town and a municipality located in the Srem District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2022, the town has total population of 24,450, while the municipality has 43,433 inhabitants. It is located in the geogr ...

from 2000 to 2012. He also served as a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

from 2016 to 2020.

Early life and education

Ješić was born on 3 August 1974 in

Sremska Mitrovica Sremska Mitrovica (; sr-Cyrl, Сремска Митровица, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city in Serbia. It is situated on the left bank of the Sava, Sava river. , the city has a total population of 36,764 inhabitants, while its adminis ...

. He graduated from a high school in

and later from the Faculty of Agriculture of the

University of Novi Sad The University of Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Универзитет у Новом Саду, Univerzitet u Novom Sadu; ) is a public university in Novi Sad, Serbia. Alongside nationally prestigious University of Belgrade, University of Novi Sad is ...

. He completed a specialist course on public policy at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

Political career

Civic Alliance of Serbia

Ješić started his political career in 1996 when he founded the Inđija branch of the liberal

Civic Alliance of Serbia The Civic Alliance of Serbia (; abbr. ГСС or GSS) was a liberal political party in Serbia. History The Civic Alliance of Serbia (GSS) was founded on 10 June 1992. Initially, it was a coalition of two successor parties to Ante Marković's Yu ...

(GSS). In 2000, Ješić was appointed the head of GSS's

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...

branch. He was one of the founders of

Otpor Otpor ( sr-Cyrl, Отпор!, , stylized as Otpor!) was a political organization in Serbia (then part of FR Yugoslavia) from 1998 until 2004. In its initial period from 1998 to 2000, Otpor began as a civic protest group, eventually turning into ...

. As part of the

Democratic Opposition of Serbia The Democratic Opposition of Serbia ( sr-cyrl, Демократска oпозиција Cрбије, Demokratska opozicija Srbije, abbr. DOS) was a wide electoral alliance of political parties in Serbia, intent on ousting the ruling Socialist Par ...

(DOS) coalition, Ješić was its coordinator for Inđija,

Pećinci Pećinci (, ; ) is a village and municipality located in the Srem District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The village has a population of 2,448, while Pećinci municipality has 18,401 inhabitants (2022 census). Name In Serbo- ...

Stara Pazova Stara Pazova (, ; ; ) is a small town located in the Srem District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 18,522, while Stara Pazova municipality has 62,318 inhabitants (2022 census). The entrance into town f ...

and Irig for the 2000 elections. In the 2000 local election, Ješić was elected to the Municipal Assembly of Inđija and shortly after was elected mayor by the Municipal Assembly. He became the youngest mayor in Serbia, at the age of 26. In 2001, Ješić was included in the GSS presidency. He was re-elected mayor in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. In the summer of 2006, Ješić left GSS, accusing its president

Nataša Mićić Nataša Mićić ( sr-Cyrl, Наташа Мићић; Jovanović; born 2 November 1965) is a Serbian lawyer and politician who served as the president of the National Assembly of Serbia from 2001 to 2004 and as the acting president of Serbia fro ...

of "merging" GSS into the

Liberal Democratic Party Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

(LDP). Ješić was credited with the rapid development of Inđija.

Democratic Party

On 31 October 2006, Ješić announced that he is joining the Democratic Party (DS), stating that DS is the "only serious democratic party that can continue reforms in Serbia". Ješić was praised by DS's vice president

Bojan Pajtić Bojan Pajtić ( sr-cyr, Бојан Пајтић; born 2 May 1970) is a Serbian lawyer and former politician who is a professor at the University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Law. A member of the Democratic Party (DS), he served as the president of th ...

. Ješić revealed that he voted against the new constitution in the 2006 constitutional referendum. He was re-elected mayor in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. In July 2012, Ješić was appointed vice president of the

and provincial secretary for agriculture, water management and forestry by Bojan Pajtić. He resigned from both positions in June 2014. Ješić was in charge of DS's branch for agriculture, water management and forestry, as well as its

Srem Syrmia ( Ekavian sh-Latn-Cyrl, Srem, Срем, separator=" / " or Ijekavian sh-Latn-Cyrl, Srijem, Сријем, label=none, separator=" / ") is a region of the southern Pannonian Plain, which lies between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is ...

branch. From 2014 to 2016, he served as the vice president of DS. In the 2016 parliamentary election, Ješić was elected to the

and served until 2020. Ješić was one DS members which were against the party's decision to boycott the 2020 parliamentary election. Ješić left DS in 2023.

Independent politician

On 5 November 2024, during the protests following the

Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse On 1 November 2024, the concrete canopy of the main railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia, collapsed onto the busy pavement below, killing 16 people and severely injuring one more. The station building was constructed in 1964, and was renovated fro ...

, Ješić was detained by the police after attempting to prevent an arrest of a protester. He was released on 7 November. He turned himself over to the police the next day after an announcement that he will be detained once again. Lawyer Sead Spahović called Ješić a political prisoner. Ješić was released again on 22 November. Following his release, Ješić announced that he is returning to active politics and added that this is the "beginning of the end of the Vučić regime". On 27 November, in an interview to

Vreme is a weekly news magazine based in Belgrade, Serbia. History In 1990, dissatisfied with the media climate in SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia's largest constituent unit, a group of liberal Serbian intellectuals, including prominent lawyer Srđa Popovi ...

, Ješić announced that he will be forming a new political party.

Solidarity

On 21 December 2024, Ješić founded and presented the Solidarity, Self-Defence, Liberation (Solidarnost) political organization.

Political positions

Ješić is a self-declared

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

politician. He opposes the rule of the

Serbian Progressive Party The Serbian Progressive Party (, SNS) is a major populist, catch-all party, catch-all List of political parties in Serbia, political party in Serbia. It has been the Ruling party, ruling party since 2012. Miloš Vučević, the former prime mi ...

and called its regime a "mafia pyramid".

Foreign policies

Ješić is in favor of Serbia joining the European Union and supports sanctioning Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine.

Kosovo question

Ješić believes that the current status of

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

is the result of the "absolutely wrong policy of the Republic of Serbia in the past few decades, which culminated in ethnic cleansing and

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, and in the end, the loss of the war by the Serbian Army and capitulation by the

Kumanovo Agreement The Military Technical Agreement, also known as the Kumanovo Agreement, signed between the International Security Force (KFOR) and the Governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia, was an accord concluded on 9 June ...

." He called the proposed

Community of Serb Municipalities The Community of Serb Municipalities (, ZSO; , AKS) is a planned inter-municipal association of Serbs in Kosovo, ethnic Serb majority Municipalities of Kosovo, municipalities in Kosovo. The proposal for the association came as a result of the 20 ...

a "quasi-institution" and added that the human rights of

Kosovo Serbs Kosovo Serbs form the largest ethnic minority group in Kosovo (5–6%). The precise number of Kosovo Serbs is difficult to determine as they have boycotted national censuses. However, it is estimated that there are about 95,000 of them, nearly ...

are best protected through

OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the pr ...

and the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

Personal life

Ješić resides in

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

. His brother Vladimir is a journalist.

References

External link

Goran Ješić
official X account {{DEFAULTSORT:Jesic, Goran 1974 births Living people People from Sremska Mitrovica Democratic Party (Serbia) politicians Government ministers of Vojvodina Members of the National Assembly (Serbia) People from Inđija Mayors of places in Serbia Civic Alliance of Serbia politicians