Damir Zobenica Explained

Native Name:Дамир Зобеница
Native Name Lang:se
Party:Serbian Progressive Party
Country:Serbia
Vicepresident:Assembly of Vojvodina
Birth Date:15 April 1981
Termstart:2016
Education:University of Novi Sad

Damir Zobenica (Serbian: Дамир Зобеница; born 15 April 1981) is a politician in Serbia. He has served in the Assembly of Vojvodina since 2012 and has been a vice-president (i.e., deputy chair) of the assembly since 2016. Zobenica is a member of the Serbian Progressive Party.

Early life and career

Zobenica was born in Pula, in what was then the Socialist Republic of Croatia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He completed grammar school in Novi Sad and graduated from the University of Novi Sad Faculty of Philosophy in 2008 with a sociology degree.[1]

Politician

Zobenica joined the Progressive Party upon its founding in 2008. The following year, he was elected as the president of its local board in Sremska Kamenica.[2]

He received the seventh position on the Progressive Party's electoral list for the Novi Sad municipal assembly in the 2012 Serbian local elections[3] and was elected when the list won fifteen mandates.[4] The Democratic Party and its allies initially formed a coalition government at the municipal level in Novi Sad, and Zobenica served as a member of the opposition. The Progressives and their allies formed a new administration in October 2012 following a shift in local alliances, and he served as advisor to the mayor between 2012 and 2016.

Member of the provincial assembly

Zobenica was elected to his first term in the Vojvodina assembly in the 2012 provincial election, winning Novi Sad's first constituency seat. The election was won by the Democratic Party and its allies, and the Progressives served in opposition for the next four years.

Vojvodina switched to a system of full proportional representation for the 2016 provincial election, and Zobenica was given the third position on the Progressive Party's list. This was tantamount to election, and he was indeed re-elected when the list won a majority victory with sixty-three out of 120 mandates.[5] He was chosen as a vice-president of the assembly following the election and held this role for the next four years.

Zobenica also became active with the Assembly of European Regions during this time, serving as vice-president of Committee 1 (dealing with economic and regional economic cooperation issues) in 2016–17. He subsequently became vice-president of the assembly in charge of diplomacy and Black Sea cooperation in 2017–19 and vice-president in charge of regional economic development beginning in 2019.[6]

He was given the second position on the Progressive Party's list in the 2020 provincial election[7] and was elected to a third term when the list won an increased majority with seventy-six seats. He was confirmed for another term as vice-president of the assembly after the election, and he serves as a member of the committee on European integration and interregional cooperation and the committee on administrative and mandatory issues.[8] He has also continued to participate in Serbia's delegation to the Assembly of European Regions.[9]

Electoral Record

Provincial (Vojvodina)

2012 Vojvodina assembly election
Novi Sad I (constituency seat) - First and Second Rounds
[10]
Damir ZobenicaLet's Get Vojvodina Moving (Affiliation: Progressive Party)6,71127.4911,43852.36
Slobodan KačarChoice for a Better Vojvodina4,55418.6510,40747.64
Milan BalaćDemocratic Party of Serbia2,91711.95
Lazar KanjerićSerbian Radical Party2,4299.95
Vasilije TopalovSocialist Party of SerbiaParty of United Pensioners of SerbiaUnited SerbiaSocial Democratic Party of Serbia2,3219.51
Damir KondićLeague of Social Democrats of Vojvodina2,2959.40
Milica Jovanov BanićPreokret1,0394.26
Marko RadakovićMaja GojkovićUnited Regions of Serbia9093.72
Milorad ĆitićSerb Democratic Party6782.78
Drago StuparCitizens' Group – Vote for Yourself5632.31
Total valid votes24,41610021,845100

References

  1. https://www.skupstinavojvodine.gov.rs/Strana.aspx?s=potpredsednikzobenica&j=EN Vice-President Damir Zobenica
  2. https://www.skupstinavojvodine.gov.rs/Strana.aspx?s=potpredsednikzobenica&j=EN Vice-President Damir Zobenica
  3. Službeni List (Grada Novog Sada), Volume 31 Number 17 (24 April 2012), p. 552.
  4. Službeni List (Grada Novog Sada), Volume 31 Number 22 (23 May 2012), p. 651.
  5. http://pik.skupstinavojvodine.gov.rs/Strana?s=izborneliste&i=2016 Изборне листе за изборе за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне покрајине Војводине (Изборна листа 1 - АЛЕКСАНДАР ВУЧИЋ – СРБИЈА ПОБЕЂУЈЕ Изборна листа)
  6. https://www.skupstinavojvodine.gov.rs/Strana.aspx?s=potpredsednikzobenica&j=EN Vice-President Damir Zobenica
  7. http://pik.skupstinavojvodine.gov.rs/Strana?s=izborneliste&i=2020 Изборне листе кандидата за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне покрајине Војводине (АЛЕКСАНДАР ВУЧИЋ – ЗА НАШУ ДЕЦУ.)
  8. https://www.skupstinavojvodine.gov.rs/Poslanici.aspx?id=724&s=poslanici Damir Zobenica
  9. http://rtv.rs/sr_lat/vojvodina/novi-sad/pastor-i-zobenica-na-generalnoj-skupstini-aer_1180518.html "Pastor i Zobenica na Generalnoj Skupštini AER"
  10. http://pik.skupstinavojvodine.gov.rs/Strana?s=rezultati2012v&i=2012 Резултати избора за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне Покрајине Војводине по већинском изборном систему (30 Нови Сад I)