Jelena Trivić | |
Native Name: | Јелена Тривић |
Office1: | Member of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska |
Term Start1: | 19 November 2018 |
Term End1: | 15 November 2022 |
Birth Date: | 8 August 1983 |
Birth Place: | Banja Luka, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia |
Nationality: | Bosnian Serb |
Spouse: | Dejan Trivić |
Children: | 2 |
Occupation: | Politician, professor |
Jelena Trivić (; born 8 August 1983) is a Bosnian Serb politician in Republic of Srpska and university professor who served as member of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska from 2018 to 2022. She was vice president of the Party of Democratic Progress, until she left it in 2023 to establish the People's Front.
Trivić was born on 8 August 1983 in Banja Luka, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia. She graduated at the Faculty of Economics, University of Banja Luka in 2006, obtained her master's degree from the University of Bologna in 2007 and gained her doctorate from the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade in 2013.[1]
Trivić is an associate professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Banja Luka.
Trivić publicly supported the group "Justice for David" in the fight for truth about the death of David Dragičević and strongly condemned the reactions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska who arrested the peaceful protestors in Krajina Square, including the parents of Dragičević.
Trivić was elected member of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska following the 2018 general election as a candidate of the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP). She is a member of the Parliamentary Committee for Trade and Tourism and the Committee for Finance and Budget.[2]
She was a joint candidate of the PDP and Serb Democratic Party for President of Republika Srpska in the 2022 general election.[3] [4] [5] On election night, she claimed victory despite preliminary data from Bosnia’s Central Electoral Commission showing that incumbent Milorad Dodik won with 48% of the vote and around 30,000 more votes than Trivić, alleging voter fraud.[6] After Trivić and Republika Srpska's opposition parties demanded a recount, Dodik's victory was confirmed by election officials weeks later, though Trivić still refused to concede.[7]
In March 2023, Trivić left the PDP and established her own political party, the People's Front.[8]
Trivić is a critic of Milorad Dodik and his ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), claiming that Dodik is an "agent of Croatian interests",[9] that he "cannot be trusted"[10] and that "corruption, crime, economic disaster and the SNSD will destroy Republika Srpska."[11]
In July 2021, regarding the Srebrenica massacre, Trivić stated that the "crime that happened in Srebrenica is not genocide, these are facts" and that "Serbs are not people who kneel before the occupier."[12]
Jelena is married to Dejan Trivić and has two sons. She also holds Serbian citizenship.[13] Besides her native Serbian, Trivić also speaks English and Italian.