Vuk Radojević Explained

Vuk Radojević (Serbian: Вук Радојевић; born 1978) is an agrarian economist and politician in Serbia. He is currently serving his third term as mayor of Bečej and was the minister of agriculture, water management, and forestry in the Government of Vojvodina from 2016 to 2020. Radojević is a member of the Serbian Progressive Party.

Early life and private career

Radojević was born in Bečej, in what was then the Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in the Socialist Republic of Serbia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He was raised in the community and subsequently earned a bachelor's degree (2002), master's degree (2007), and Ph.D. (2018) from the University of Novi Sad's Faculty of Agriculture, focusing on the field of agro-economy. His master's thesis considered export opportunities of agro-industrial products to the European Union.^[1]

Politician

Radojević sought election to the Assembly of Vojvodina in the 2012 provincial election in the Bečej electoral division. He was defeated in the second round.

He also appeared in the lead position on a coalition electoral list for the Bečej municipal assembly in the concurrent 2012 Serbian local elections and was elected when the list won eight mandates.^{[2] [3]} The Democratic Party won a minority victory in election, but the Progressives were able to form coalition government with the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians with Radojević as mayor.^[4] He served in this role for the next four years, led the Progressive alliance to a majority victory in Bečej in the 2016 Serbian local elections, and was chosen for a second term as mayor following the election.^{[5] [6] [7]}

His second term as mayor was very brief; days after the appointment, a new government of Vojvodina was announced and Radojević was named as provincial agriculture minister.^[8] In October 2016, he announced loans of 132 million dinars to agricultural producers.^[9] In subsequent years, he travelled to Israel and Cyprus to discuss potential agricultural investments in Serbia and Vojvodina.^{[10] [11]} In an interview toward the end of his term in 2020, he said that more young people in Serbia were becoming involved with agricultural production.^[12] He stood down from the provincial cabinet after the 2020 Vojvodina provincial election.

Radojević again led the Progressive Party's coalition list for Bečej in the 2020 Serbian local elections and was re-elected when the list won another majority victory.^{[13] [14]} He was once again chosen as mayor in April 2022.^[15]

Electoral record

Provincial (Vojvodina)

2012 Vojvodina assembly election
Bečej (constituency seat) - First and Second Rounds^[16]

Candidate	Party or Coalition	Votes	%		Votes	%
Slobodan Zlokolica	Choice for a Better Vojvodina–Bojan Pajtić	3,382	18.67		10,410	64.68
Vuk Radojević	Let's Get Vojvodina Moving–Tomislav Nikolić (Serbian Progressive Party, New Serbia, Movement of Socialists, Strength of Serbia Movement) (Affiliation: Serbian Progressive Party)	2,881	15.91		5,685	35.32
Laslo Feher	Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians	2,634	14.54
Zoltan Guljaš	"Miša Vrebalov–U-Turn"	1,981	10.94
Milica Gobelić	Democratic Party of Serbia	1,484	8.19
Jelena Češljević	Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS)–Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS)–United Serbia (JS)–Social Democratic Party of Serbia (SDP Srbije)	1,167	6.44
Dragan Živkov	Serbian Radical Party	972	5.37
Vera Guljaš	League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina–Nenad Čanak	797	4.40
Igor Kiš	Democratic Party of Vojvodina Hungarians	787	4.35
István Tari	Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians–VMDK	707	3.90
Zubcsik Gábor	Hungarian Hope Movement	477	2.63
Čila Mešter-Kuti	Hungarian Civic Alliance	476	2.63
Magdolna Šlajf	United Regions of Serbia–Mlađan Dinkić	366	2.02
Total valid votes		18,111	100		16,095	100

Notes and References

1. http://www.vojvodina.gov.rs/секретаријати/пс-за-пољопривреду-водопривреду-и-шумарство "Покрајински секретаријат за пољопривреду, водопривреду и шумарство"
2. Službeni List (Opštine Bečej), Volume 48 Number 4 (17 May 2012), p. 38.
3. Službeni List (Opštine Bečej), Volume 48 Number 5 (3 July 2012), p. 6.
4. Službeni List (Opštine Bečej), Volume 48 Number 6 (16 July 2012), p. 3.
5. Službeni List (Opštine Bečej), Volume 52 Number 8 (11 April 2016), p. 1.
6. Službeni List (Opštine Bečej), Volume 52 Number 12 (19 May 2016), pp. 2-3.
7. http://www.rtv.rs/sr_lat/vojvodina/backa/radojevic-stari-novi-predsednik-opstine-becej_727018.html "Radojević stari-novi predsednik opštine Bečej"
8. https://rtv.rs/sr_lat/vojvodina/novi-sad/miroslav-statkic-vodi-kulturu-vuk-radojevic-poljoprivredu_729582.html "Miroslav Štatkić vodi kulturu, Vuk Radojević poljoprivredu"
9. https://www.blic.rs/vesti/vojvodina/povoljni-krediti-poljoprivrednicima-132-miliona-dinara/hmrqryn "POVOLJNI KREDITI Poljoprivrednicima 132 miliona dinara"
10. https://www.blic.rs/vesti/ekonomija/razgovori-o-mogucim-ulaganjima-izraelskih-investitora-u-poljoprivrednu-proizvodnju/9dywl9e "Razgovori o mogućim ulaganjima izraelskih investitora u poljoprivrednu proizvodnju"
11. http://nicosia.mfa.gov.rs/newstext.php?subaction=showfull&id=1559721680&ucat=19& "Visit of the delegation of the provincial government of the Republic of Serbia to the Republic of Cyprus led by Mr Vuk Radojević, PhD, Provincial Secretary for Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry"
12. https://www.dnevnik.rs/politika/radojevic-sve-vise-mladih-se-opredeluje-za-poloprivrednu-proizvodnu-31-05-2020 "РАДОЈЕВИЋ: Све више младих се опредељује за пољопривредну производњу"
13. Službeni List (Opštine Bečej), Volume 55 Number 13 (9 June 2020), p. 3.
14. Službeni List (Opštine Bečej), Volume 55 Number 16 (1 July 2020), pp. 3-4.
15. https://www.dnevnik.rs/vojvodina/vuk-radojevic-izabran-za-predsednika-opstine-becej-18-04-2023 "Вук Радојевић изабран за председника општине Бечеј"
16. Source: Резултати избора за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне Покрајине Војводине по већинском изборном систему (2012) (10 Бечеј), Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia, accessed 6 July 2021.