Maja Gojković ( sr-Cyrl, Маја Гојковић; born 22 May 1963) is a Serbian politician who has been the
president of the Government of Vojvodina since 2024. A member 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 ...
(SNS), she previously served as
president of the National Assembly from 2014 to 2020 and
deputy prime minister of Serbia and
minister of culture and information from 2020 until 2024.
As a member of the
Serbian Radical Party (SRS), she served as
minister without portfolio
A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...
from 1998 to 1999 and
deputy prime minister of Yugoslavia from 1999 to 2000. She later became the
mayor of Novi Sad, an office she served from 2004 to 2008, after which she left SRS and formed the
People's Party (NP) which merged into SNS in 2012.
Education
She attended Branko Radičević elementary school and the
Gymnasium Jovan Jovanović Zmaj. After getting her degree from the
University of Novi Sad Faculty of Law
The University of Novi Sad Faculty of Law (), also known as the Novi Sad Law School, is a constituent body of the University of Novi Sad, Serbia. The school is located on the university campus on the bank of the Danube river in the downtown distri ...
in 1987, she passed the bar exam in 1989.
A year later she started working in her family's law firm.
Political career
Gojković is one of the founders of
Serbian Radical Party, first holding the position of secretary general, then vice president of executive council and finally she was vice president of the party. She was
Vojislav Šešelj
Vojislav Šešelj ( sr-Cyrl, Војислав Шешељ, ; born 11 October 1954) is a Serbian politician and convicted war criminal. He is the founder and president of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS). Between 1998 and 2000, he was a D ...
's legal adviser before the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars, war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to tr ...
.
On 14 July 1995, during the
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...
, Gojković, who served as vice-president of
Serbian Radical Party, made a statement on the
Fall of Srebrenica only a few days after the start of the
massacre
A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...
: “We salute the rapidly action of the
Army of Republika Srpska, which finally liberated Serbian Srebrenica and put an end to one of the most significant hotspot of Muslim terror.”
Maja Gojković has been a representative in the parliament of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...
since 1992. From 1996 until 2000 she was a member of
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 ...
parliament.
In 1998 and 1999 she was a
non-portfolio minister in the
Serbian Government
The government of Serbia ( sr-cyrl, Влада Србије, Vlada Srbije), formally the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr-cyrl, Влада Републике Србије, Vlada Republike Srbije), commonly abbreviated to Serbian Governme ...
. Gojković also served as vice chairman of the federal government of FR Yugoslavia in 1999.
Before running for mayor of
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 ...
she held a place in the federal parliament of
Serbia and Montenegro
The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...
. She was the vice president of the
Serbian Radical Party until 2006. In 2008, she formed her own party, the
People's Party and ran for seats in the local elections. She got seven councillor seats in the Parliament of Novi Sad. In 2010, the People's Party joined the
United Regions of Serbia
The United Regions of Serbia (; abbr. УРС, URS) was a Regionalism (politics), regionalist, Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative political party in Serbia. It was founded on 16 May 2010 as a political coalition, and became a unified poli ...
(URS). For having supporting a coalition with
Boris Tadić
Boris Tadić, (born 15 January 1958) is a Serbian politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2004 to 2012.
Born in Sarajevo, he graduated from the University of Belgrade with a degree in psychology. He later worked as a journalist ...
and his
Democratic Party independently of the People's Party, she and other such members were expelled from the URS. The party is now defunct and she is a member of the ruling
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 the 2004 Serbian local election she was elected
Mayor of Novi Sad, for the first time by
popular vote, beating then mayor
Borislav Novaković. She thus became the first woman to perform mayoral duties in Novi Sad's history.
She was elected
President of the National Assembly of Serbia on 23 April 2014. In 2018,
Freedom House
Freedom House is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. It is best known for political advocacy surrounding issues of democracy, Freedom (political), political freedom, and human rights. Freedom House was founded in October 1941, wi ...
reported that Gojković conducted parliamentary proceedings in an extremely partisan way, with a huge number of interruptions and penalties handed to opposition MPs. In addition, she was criticized for suggesting to MPs from ruling coalition to vote for initiatives and proposals by ringing a bell.
On 27 June 2020, Gojković was hospitalized with
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gojkovic, Maja
1963 births
20th-century Serbian lawyers
Deputy prime ministers of Serbia
Culture ministers of Serbia
Government ministers of Serbia
Living people
Mayors of Novi Sad
Members of the National Assembly (Serbia)
People's Party (Serbia, 2008) politicians
Politicians of Vojvodina
Presidents of the National Assembly (Serbia)
Serbian Progressive Party politicians
Serbian Radical Party politicians
Serbian women lawyers
University of Novi Sad alumni
Women government ministers of Serbia
Women mayors of places in Serbia
Women members of the National Assembly (Serbia)
20th-century women lawyers