Milanka Karić (Serbian Cyrillic: Миланка Карић; born September 15, 1957) is a Serbian politician. She served in the National Assembly of Serbia from 2012 to 2020 as a member of the Strength of Serbia Movement, a political party led by her husband Bogoljub Karić.
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Early life and education
editKarić was born in Peja, Kosovo and Mehotija, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Niš.[1]
Business career and philanthropy
editThe Karić family was one of the richest in Serbia during the 1990s. More recent reports suggest that their wealth and influence, though reduced, remain significant.[2] Milanka Karić has been active in several of the family's business and philanthropic concerns, including serving as president of the Karić Foundation.[3][4]
Political career
edit2008 presidential campaign
editKarić ran as the Strength of Serbia Movement's candidate for president of Serbia in the 2008 election, when her husband was outside the country to avoid criminal prosecution.[5] Her campaign slogan was, "Family Is the Strength of Serbia."[6] She received 40,332 votes (0.98%), placing seventh in a field of nine candidates.[7]
Parliamentarian
editStrength of Serbia fielded its own electoral list for the National Assembly of Serbia in the 2007 and 2008 parliamentary elections; Karić led the list in 2007 and was given the second position in 2008.[8] In each instance, the list failed to cross the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly.
Karić attended a major opposition rally in 2011, conveying greetings from her husband and announcing Strength of Serbia's alliance with the leadership of the Serbian Progressive Party.[9]
Strength of Serbia contested the 2012 parliamentary election as part of the Progressive Party's Let's Get Serbia Moving coalition. Karić was awarded the ninth position on the coalition's electoral list and was elected when the list won seventy-three mandates.[10] The Progressive Party emerged as the head of a coalition government after this election, and Karić served as part of its parliamentary majority. The Strength of Serbia Movement's alliance with the Progressive Party continued into the 2014 and 2016 elections; Karić was included on its list both times and was re-elected when the Progressive-led alliance won landslide victories.[11]
Karić is a member of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee; a deputy member of the committee on the judiciary, public administration, and local self-government; the head of Serbia's parliamentary friendship group with Kazakhstan; and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Russia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. She serves in the Progressive Party's parliamentary group.[12]
Diplomat
editKarić was appointed as Kazakhstan's honorary council in Serbia in June 2015.[13]
References
edit- ^ MILANKA KARIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 18 September 2017.
- ^ "Serb businessman proposes Kosovo conference in Belgrade," Associated Press Newswires, 17 May 1999; "Businessman reportedly wants to return to Serbia to "clear his name" in court," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 18 April 2014 (Source: Vecernje novosti website, Belgrade, in Serbian 14 Apr 14).
- ^ Uručene nagrade "Braća Karić", Blic (Source: Tanjug), 8 October 2012, accessed 18 September 2017.
- ^ MILANKA KARIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 18 September 2017.
- ^ "Serbian ruling coalition facing more problems despite recent accord, agency says," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 27 December 2007 (Source: Beta Week, Belgrade, in English 27 Dec 07).
- ^ "Serb politicians use old slogans in 2017 campaign - analysis," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 30 March 2017 (Source: Politika website in Serbian 0900 gmt 29 Mar 17).
- ^ Избори за председника Републике, одржани 20. јануара и 3. фебруара 2008. године (РЕЗУЛТАТИ ИЗБОРА: Извештај о резултатима избора за председника Републике одржаних 20. јануара 2008. године), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 18 September 2017.
- ^ See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Покрет снага Србије - Богољуб Карић) Archived 2018-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 25 August 2017; and Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Покрет СНАГА СРБИЈЕ - Богољуб Карић) Archived 2018-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 25 August 2017. Karić received the first position on the list in 2007 and the second position in 2008. It may be noted that her numerical position was actually irrelevant to her chances of election. From 2000 to 2011, parliamentary mandates were awarded to lists rather than to individual candidates, and it was a common practice for mandates to be awarded out of numerical order. 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.
- ^ "Opposition rally unlikely to produce early elections in Serbia - analysts," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 7 February 2011 (Source: Danas website, Belgrade, in Serbian 7 Feb 11).
- ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (POKRENIMO SRBIJU - TOMISLAV NIKOLIĆ) Archived 2018-07-24 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 January 2017.
- ^ Karić received the forty-fourth position on the list in 2015 and the sixty-ninth position in 2016. See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ALEKSANDAR VUČIĆ - BUDUĆNOST U KOJU VERUJEMO) Archived 2018-05-06 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 January 2017; and Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (АЛЕКСАНДАР ВУЧИЋ - СРБИЈА ПОБЕЂУЈЕ) Archived 2018-04-27 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
- ^ MILANKA KARIC, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 18 September 2017.
- ^ "Official mission of Kazakhstan opened in Serbia," Kazinform International News Agency, 5 June 2015.