Igor Simić (, ; born 25 May 1986) is a

Kosovo Serb 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 ...

politician who was a deputy in the

Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo The Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Скупштина Републике Косово, Skupština Republike Kosovo) or the Kuvendi, is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Kosovo that is directly elected by the peo ...

. He is a vice president and the spokesperson of the Serb List, a Serb minority party in

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 ...

Early life and career

He was born to a

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

family in 1986 in

Titova Mitrovica Mitrovica (Albanian indefinite form: ''Mitrovicë''; sr-Cyrl, Митровица, Mitrovica), also referred to as Kosovska Mitrovica ( sr-Cyrl, Косовска Митровица, Kosovska Mitrovica; Albanian: ''Mitrovica e Kosovës'') and ...

(Kosovska Mitrovica / Mitrovica) which at the time was a part of the

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics, University of Priština with the temporary seat in

North Mitrovica North Mitrovica; or ''Mitrovicë Veriore'' or North Kosovska Mitrovica, is a town and municipality located in Mitrovica District in Kosovo. As of 2015, it has a population of 29,460 inhabitants. It covers an area of . North Mitrovica is a par ...

and later he did

doctoral studies A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

at the same university and received his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

and defended his doctoral dissertation in on the topic of the

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 ...

. Currently he is an assistant at the Faculty of Economics, University of Priština and a member of the council at the Faculty of Law of the same university. He is an executive director of the NGO "Sinergija". In 2015, Simic became the director of the supervisory board of the state-owned enterprise "Mreža Most" and then again in 2019. Besides his native

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

, he speaks

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Political career

Before joining the Serb List, and 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 ...

in 2016, he was the spokesperson of the Civic Initiative "Freedom, Democracy, Justice" (SDP) which was led by

Oliver Ivanović Oliver Ivanović ( sr-cyr, Оливер Ивановић; 1 April 1953 – 16 January 2018) was a Kosovo Serb politician. Ivanović served as the State Secretary of the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija from 2008 to 2012 and was also a member of ...

, who at that time was in prison and was assassinated in 2018. After the

2017 Kosovan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Kosovo on 11 June 2017. Background The elections were triggered by a motion of no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Isa Mustafa on 10 May 2017 by a vote of 78–34.

s, Simić became a deputy in the

and after the

2019 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2019. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems has a calendar of upcoming elections around the world, and the National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections in cou ...

he was elected again. He serves in the Parliamentary Committee for Rights and Interests of Communities and Returns as well as the Committee for Local Governance, Public Administration, Regional Development and Media. In 2018, Igor Simić was elected vice president of the Serb List. In November 2019, Simić said that

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

continues to fund parallel structures and that the Serbian state provides salaries to 40 thousand Serbian citizens in Kosovo. He also denounced claims that

North Kosovo North Kosovo (, ); also known as the Ibar Kolašin (, or ''Kollashini i Ibrit''); earlier Old Kolašin, (, or ''Kollashini i Vjetër'') and colloquially known as the North (, ) is a region in the northern part of Kosovo, generally understood ...

is more dangerous than other parts of Kosovo and that young people are not leaving Kosovo because of the Serb List, but because of the Kosovar political class. On 5 November 2022, all the ten deputies of the Serb List, including Simić, resigned from the Assembly of Kosovo.

References

Politicians from Mitrovica, Kosovo 1986 births Living people Kosovo Serbs Kosovan politicians Serbian Progressive Party politicians University of Pristina alumni {{Kosovo-politician-stub