Žika Gojković
Жика Гојковић
Gojković in 2017
Leader of the Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia
In office
3 June 2017 – 1 August 2022
(Claim to leadership disputed from 23 December 2021 to 1 August 2022.)
Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia
Assumed office
1 August 2022
In office
11 June 2008 – 3 August 2020
Personal details
Born (1972-11-09) 9 November 1972
Sombor, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Political partySPO (1992–2017)
POKS (2017–2022)
Independent (2022–2023)
SNS (2023–present)
OccupationPolitician

Žika Gojković (Serbian Cyrillic: Жика Гојковић; born 9 November 1972) is a Serbian politician. At one time a leading figure in the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), he became the leader of the breakaway Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia (POKS) on its formation in 2017.

In late 2021, the POKS became divided into rival groups led by Gojković and former Belgrade mayor Vojislav Mihailović. For several months, both Gojković and Mihailović claimed to be the legitimate leader of the party. Gojković legally headed the party until 1 August 2022, when the Serbian ministry of public administration and local self-government ruled in favour of Mihailović.[1][2]

Gojković is currently serving his fifth term as a member of the National Assembly of Serbia. He was not a member of any party until October 2023, when he joined the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). As a member of SNS, he was re-elected to the National Assembly in the 2023 Serbian parliamentary election.

Early life and private career

Gojković was born in Sombor, in what was then the Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in the Socialist Republic of Serbia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.[3] He has a Bachelor of Management Studies degree in economy and was elected president of Sombor's sports association in 2014.[4][5]

Politician

Serbian Renewal Movement

Gojković was the chair of the SPO's Vojvodina provincial board for several years and was a party vice-president at the republic level.[6]

Early candidacies

Gojković was included on the SPO's electoral lists for the 2000, 2003, and 2007 Serbian parliamentary elections, although he did not receive a mandate on any of these occasions.[7] In 2000 and 2007, the SPO failed to cross the electoral threshold. The party contested the 2003 election in an alliance with New Serbia (NS) and won twenty-two seats; Gojković appeared in the forty-ninth position and was not afterward chosen for a mandate. (From 2000 to 2011, assembly mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for the mandates to be assigned out of numerical order. Gojković could have been given a mandate despite his relatively low position on the list, but he was not.)[8]

The SPO contested the 2004 Vojvodina provincial election as part of the Clean Hands of Vojvodina coalition. Gojković appeared in the eleventh position on its list, which did not cross the threshold for representation in the provincial assembly.[9]

Parliamentarian

For the 2008 Serbian parliamentary election, the SPO joined the For a European Serbia (ZES) coalition led by Boris Tadić's Democratic Party (DS). Gojković received the thirty-ninth position on the ZES list, which won 102 seats.[10] On this occasion, he was included in the SPO's assembly delegation.[11] The election did not produce a clear winner, but For a European Serbia ultimately formed a coalition government with the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), and Gojković served as a supporter of the administration. In his first parliamentary term, he was a member of the committee on constitutional affairs, the committee on youth and sports, and the committee on agriculture; a deputy member of the committee on defense and security and the committee on trade and tourism; and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Australia, Italy, and the Sovereign Order of Malta.[12]

Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that parliamentary mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order.[13] The SPO contested the 2012 parliamentary election in an alliance with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) called U-Turn (Preokret). Gojković received the thirteenth position on the coalition's list and was re-elected when the list won nineteen mandates.[14] The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won the election and afterward formed a new coalition government with the SPS and other parties; the SPO served in opposition. Gojković was a member of the committee on the diaspora and Serbs in the region and the committee on finance, budget, and control of public spending; a deputy member of Serbia's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA); and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Austria and the United States of America.[15]

The SPO joined the SNS's political alliance in the buildup to the 2014 election. Gojković received the forty-first position on the SNS-led Aleksandar Vučić — Future We Believe In list and was easily re-elected when the list won a landslide victory with 158 out of 250 mandates.[16] He again served as a government supporter. In his third term, he was a member of the finance committee and the defense and internal affairs committee, a deputy member of the diaspora committee, the leader of Serbia's friendship group with Brazil, and a member of the friendship groups with France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States.[17]

He received the eighty-second position on the Progressive Party's Aleksandar Vučić – Serbia Is Winning list in 2016 and was re-elected when the alliance won a second consecutive majority with 131 seats.[18] The SPO did not win enough seats to form its own assembly group, and the party's delegates served in caucus with the Progressive Party.[19]

Local politics

The SPO contested the 2004 Serbian local elections in Sombor in an alliance with the People's Democratic Party (NDS). The alliance won five seats; Gojković appeared on its list and was included afterward in the SPO's municipal assembly group.[20][21] He was re-elected in the 2008, 2012, and 2016 local elections, although on each occasion he resigned his seat shortly thereafter.[22]

Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia

Several SPO members, including Gojković, were expelled from the party in May 2017 after recommending that longtime leader Vuk Drašković step down from his position to become an honorary president.[23] The following month, many of these former SPO members established the POKS.[24] The new organization was registered as a party on 17 July 2017, and Gojković was chosen as its leader on 15 October. He continued to caucus with the Progressive Party, noting the POKS's good relations with the SNS and with Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić.[25]

For the 2016–20 parliament, Gojković was a member (and later a deputy member) of the finance committee, a deputy member of the foreign affairs committee, once again the head of Serbia's parliamentary friendship group with Brazil, and a member of its parliamentary friendship groups with France, Georgia, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States.[26][27]

In February 2020, he proposed the direct election of mayors and two-thirds of assembly members in Serbia's local elections.[28]

The POKS contested in the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election on a coalition list called For the Kingdom of Serbia. Gojković was the list bearer, although he agreed to have Ljubinko Đurković appear ahead of him in the first position. The list narrowly missed crossing the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly.[29]

POKS split and after

On 23 December 2021, a group identifying itself as the POKS presidency removed Gojković as leader on the grounds that his four-year term had expired in October.[30][31] POKS official Miloš Parandilović responded that the meeting had been illegitimately convened and that Gojković was still the party's leader.[32]

The anti-Gojković group announced on 28 December that Gojković and his prominent ally Mirko Čikiriz had been expelled from the party.[33][34][35] Gojković's supporters rejected this, indicating that Serbia's ministry of public administration and local self-government had issued a statement the previous day identifying him as the party's only legitimate representative.[36] Gojković's group subsequently held an assembly in Topola on 2 January 2021, at which time he was re-affirmed as party leader. The rival group held an assembly in Belgrade the following day and elected Vojislav Mihailović as leader.[36][37][38][39]

In the aftermath of the split, Mihailović accused Gojković of concealing his appointment by the Serbian government as a director of Mtel, a telecommunications company in Montenegro primarily owned by the state company Telekom Srbija.[40] Mihailovic's supporters further asserted that the appointment was evidence of collusion between Gojković and Vučić's government. Gojković rejected this, saying that he received only minimal compensation for serving as a director (which he had reported in any event) and that it was not evidence of ongoing ties to the SNS.[41]

Gojković announced in February 2022 that his POKS group would contest the upcoming presidential, parliamentary, and Belgrade elections in an alliance with Dveri.[42] He ultimately appeared in the second position on the Dveri–POKS alliance's Patriotic Bloc for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia list in the parliamentary election and was elected to a fifth term when the list won ten mandates.[43] Gojković's POKS group won four seats in total. Shortly after the election, he lost the rights to the party name when Mihailović was recognized as its legitimate leader.[44]

In August 2022, Gojković and two of the other three parliamentarians in his ex-POKS group voted for SNS candidate Vladimir Orlić to become the new president of the national assembly. The fourth ex-POKS delegate, Miloš Parandilović, who had hitherto been one of Gojković's key allies, voted against Orlić.[45] Parandilović later charged Gojković with seeking to join Serbia's SNS-led administration and of surrendering his claim to the POKS leadership after the election, thereby allowing Mihailović to take over the party.[46]

Gojković is now a member of the assembly's defence and internal affairs committee, a member of Serbia's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie (where Serbia has associate member status), and a member of the friendship groups with Argentina, the Bahamas, Italy, Slovenia, and the United States. He sits in a parliamentary group with members of the Justice and Reconciliation Party (SPP), the United Peasant Party (USS), and the Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina (DSHV).[47]

In October 2023, Gojković joined the Serbian Progressive Party.[48]

References

  1. ↑ "RIK proglasio izbornu listu Dveri i frakcije POKS-a koju predvodi Žika Gojković", Danas, 23 February 2022, accessed 23 February 2022. See also "Koalicija NADA: Vlast onemogućava POKS da učestvuje na izborima (VIDEO)", Beta, 16 February 2022, accessed 23 February 2022.
  2. ↑ "Vojislav Mihailović dobio ekskluzivno pravo na korišćenje imena POKS - Politika - Dnevni list Danas" (in Serbian). 1 August 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  3. ↑ ŽIKA GOJKOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 10 May 2017.
  4. ↑ ŽIKA GOJKOVIĆ, Archived 2016-11-11 at the Wayback Machine, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 11 November 2016, accessed 12 February 2022.
  5. ↑ Vinko Janković, "SOMBOR: ŽIKA GOJKOVIĆ NOVI PRESEDNIK SPORTSKOG SAVEZA", srbijasport.net, 24 September 2014, accessed 10 May 2017.
  6. ↑ "Žika Gojković novi-stari predsednik vojvođanskog SPO", Blic (Source: Tanjug), 22 November 2015, accessed 10 May 2017. See also "Serbian Renewal Movement re-elects chairman," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 14 May 2005 (Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1536 gmt 14 May 05).
  7. ↑ Gojković received the twenty-seventh position in 2000, the forty-ninth in 2003, and the sixth in 2007. See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 23. децембра 2000. године и 10. јануара 2001. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (2 „Српски покрет обнове – Вук Драшковић" – Вук Драшковић), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 2 July 2021; Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (6. СРПСКИ ПОКРЕТ ОБНОВЕ - НОВА СРБИЈА - ВУК ДРАШКОВИЋ - ВЕЛИМИР ИЛИЋ), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 2 July 2021; Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (7 Српски покрет обнове - Вук Драшковић), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 2 July 2021.
  8. ↑ Serbia's Law on the Election of Representatives (2000) stipulated that parliamentary mandates would be awarded to electoral lists (Article 80) that crossed the electoral threshold (Article 81), that mandates would be given to candidates appearing on the relevant lists (Article 83), and that the submitters of the lists were responsible for selecting their parliamentary delegations within ten days of the final results being published (Article 84). See Law on the Election of Representatives, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 35/2000, made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 28 February 2017.
  9. ↑ РЕШЕЊЕ О УТВРЂИВАЊУ ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ ЗА ИЗБОРЕ ЗА ПОСЛАНИКЕ У СКУПШТИНУ АУТОНОМНЕ ПОКРАЈИНЕ ВОЈВОДИНЕ, 19. СЕПТЕМБРА 2004. ГОДИНЕ, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.
  10. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (1 ЗА ЕВРОПСКУ СРБИЈУ – БОРИС ТАДИЋ), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 10 July 2021.
  11. ↑ 11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 13 September 2022.
  12. ↑ ЖИКА ГОЈКОВИЋ, Archived 2011-12-31 at the Wayback Machine, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 31 December 2011, accessed 12 February 2022.
  13. ↑ Law on the Election of Members of the Parliament (2000, as amended 2011) (Articles 88 & 92) made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 28 February 2017.
  14. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (4 ЧЕДОМИР ЈОВАНОВИЋ - ПРЕОКРЕТ Либерално демократска партија, Српски покрет обнове, Социјалдемократска унија, Богата Србија, Војвођанска партија, Демократска партија Санџака, Зелена еколошка партија - зелени, Партија Бугара Србије), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 28 September 2021.
  15. ↑ ŽIKA GOJKOVIĆ, Archived 2013-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 3 March 2013, accessed 12 February 2022.
  16. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (1 АЛЕКСАНДАР ВУЧИЋ - БУДУЋНОСТ У КОЈУ ВЕРУЈЕМО (Српска напредна странка, Социјалдемократска партија Србије, Нова Србија, Српски покрет обнове, Покрет социјалиста)), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 5 January 2022.
  17. ↑ ŽIKA GOJKOVIĆ, Archived 2015-07-16 at the Wayback Machine, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 16 July 2015, accessed 12 February 2022.
  18. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 24. април 2016. године – Изборне листе (1 АЛЕКСАНДАР ВУЧИЋ - СРБИЈА ПОБЕЂУЈЕ), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 2 July 2021.
  19. ↑ ŽIKA GOJKOVIĆ, Archived 2016-11-11 at the Wayback Machine, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 11 November 2016, accessed 12 February 2022.
  20. ↑ "Sva skupštinska imena", soinfo.org, 8 October 2004, accessed 25 February 2022.
  21. ↑ Odbornici, Archived 2007-06-23 at the Wayback Machine, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 23 June 2007, accessed 12 February 2022.
  22. ↑ Službeni List (Grada Sombora)), Volume 1 Number 1 (4 July 2008), pp. 1, 5; Službeni List (Grada Sombora), Volume 5 Number 7 (21 June 2012), p. 111; Službeni List (Grada Sombora), Volume 6 Number 2 (18 February 2013), p. 23; Službeni List (Grada Sombor), Volume 9 Number 10 (8 June 2016), p. 72; Službeni List (Grada Sombor), Volume 9 Number 11 (23 June 2016), p. 144. He resigned his seat following the 2008 election on 4 July 2008, following the 2012 election on 16 February 2013, and following the 2016 election on 22 June 2016.
  23. ↑ "Pokret obnove kraljevine Srbije postao parlamentarna stranka", N1, 6 June 2017, accessed 19 October 2017.
  24. ↑ "Žika Gojković: U Pokret obnove Kraljevine Srbije prelazi 80 odsto SPO-a", Blic (Source: Beta), 5 June 2017, accessed 19 October 2017.
  25. ↑ "Pokret obnove Kraljevine Srbije izabrao rukovodstvo", N1, 15 October 2017, accessed 19 October 2017.
  26. ↑ ŽIKA GOJKOVIĆ, Archived 2016-11-11 at the Wayback Machine, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 11 November 2016, accessed 12 February 2022.
  27. ↑ ŽIKA GOJKOVIĆ, Archived 2019-05-03 at the Wayback Machine, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 3 May 2019, accessed 12 February 2022.
  28. ↑ "Pokret obnove kraljevine za direktan izbor gradonačelnika", N1, 7 February 2020, accessed 19 August 2020.
  29. ↑ Monarhisti ipak ispod cenzusa i posle ponovljenih izbora, Danas, 2 July 2020, accessed 18 August 2020.
  30. ↑ "Istekao mandat predsedniku POKS-a Žiki Gojkoviću, Izborna skupština u januaru". N1 (in Serbian). 23 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  31. ↑ "Istekao mandat predsedniku POKS Žiki Gojkoviću, Izborna skupština stranke 15. januara". Danas (in Serbian). 23 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  32. ↑ "Portparol POKS: Grupa funkcionera raspisala lažnu izbornu skupštinu". Danas (in Serbian). 24 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  33. ↑ "Žika Gojković isključen iz POKS". Danas (in Serbian). 28 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  34. ↑ "Radosavljević: Žika Gojković isključen iz članstva POKS". N1 (in Serbian). 28 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  35. ↑ "Čikiriz i Gojković izbačeni iz POKS-a". InfoKG - Gradski portal - Kragujevac - Najnovije vesti (in Serbian). Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  36. 1 2 "POKS: Žika Gojković je i dalje na čelu POKS-a, izborna skupština biće u Topoli". Beta (in Serbian). 29 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  37. ↑ "BORBA ZA STRANKU: POKS zakazao izbornu skupštinu za 2. januar". NOVOSTI (in Serbian). Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  38. ↑ "Nastavljena borba za tron u POKS-u". Danas (in Serbian). 29 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  39. ↑ "POKS danas dobio jednog predsednika, a sutra će i drugog", Danas, 2 January 2021, accessed 2 January 2021.
  40. ↑ Mirjana R. Milenković, "Mihailović: Gojković je od nas krio da je član borda direktora državne firme M-tel", Danas, 12 January 2022, accessed 12 February 2022.
  41. ↑ Aleksandra Popović, "Predizborni raskol u POKS-u politički motivisan ili posledica ličnih sukoba?", Danas 4 January 2022, accessed 12 February 2022.
  42. ↑ "Dveri i frakcija POKS-а predvođena Žikom Gojkovićem sutra potpisuju koalicioni sporazum", Danas, 15 February 2022, accessed 15 February 2022.
  43. ↑ Vojin Radovanović, "Ko su kandidati za poslanike na listi Patriotskog bloka za kraljevinu Srbiju?", Danas, 23 March 2022, accessed 23 March 2022.
  44. ↑ "Vojislav Mihailović dobio ekskluzivno pravo na korišćenje imena POKS - Politika - Dnevni list Danas" (in Serbian). 1 August 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  45. ↑ Čekerevac, Mirjana. "Glasanje o Orliću podelilo bivšu frakciju POKS-a". Politika Online. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  46. ↑ ""Žika Gojković iz osvete prepustio stranku": Parandilović (POKS) o novom raskolu među obnoviteljima monarhije - Politika - Dnevni list Danas" (in Serbian). 19 August 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  47. ↑ ZIKA GOJKOVIC, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 13 September 2022.
  48. ↑ FoNet (31 October 2023). "Nekadašnji lider POKS-a Žika Gojković postao član SNS". N1 (in Serbian). Retrieved 31 October 2023.
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