Nataša Jovanović (; born 14 April 1966) is a Serbian politician. She was a prominent member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS) for many years until 2021, when she joined the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). Jovanović is currently serving her seventh term in the Serbian parliament.
Early life and career Jovanović was born in Kragujevac, in what was then the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. She was employed with Zastava Impeks from 1987 to 1989 and was a tour guide with the agencies Holidej and Kontiki from 1991 to 1996.NATAŠA JOVANOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 4 January 2025.
Politician Serbian Radical Party During the 1990s, the political culture of Serbia was dominated by the authoritarian rule of Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) leader Slobodan Milošević and his allies.
Jovanović joined the Serbian Radical Party in 1992 and appeared in the twenty-fourth position (out of twenty-nine) on its electoral list for Kragujevac in the 1993 Serbian parliamentary election.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 19. и 26. децембра 1993. године и 5. јануара 1994. године – ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (3 Крагујевац), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 February 2024. The Radicals won five seats in the division, and she was not selected for a mandate.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 19. и 26. децембра 1993. године и 5. јануара 1994. године – РЕЗУЛТАТИ ИЗБОРА (Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 19. и 26. децембра 1993. године и 5. јануара 1994. године), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 February 2024.Službeni Glasnik (Republike Srbije), Volume 50 Number 11 (25 January 1994), pp. 193-194. (From 1992 to 2000, Serbia's electoral law stipulated that one-third of parliamentary mandates would be assigned to candidates from successful lists in numerical order, while the remaining two-thirds would be distributed amongst other candidates at the discretion of the sponsoring parties.Guide to the Early Election , Ministry of Information of the Republic of Serbia, December 1992, made available by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, accessed 14 July 2017. It was common practice for the latter mandates to be awarded out of order. Jovanović could in theory have been given an "optional" mandate, but she was not.)
Yugoslavian parliamentarian (1996–2000) The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ceased to exist in 1992 and was succeeded by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising the republics of Serbia and Montenegro. Jovanović led the Radical Party's list for Kragujevac in the 1996 election for the Yugoslavian assembly's Chamber of Citizens and was elected when the SRS won a single seat in the division.Velika Srbija [Serbian Radical Party publication], Number 173 (Kragujevac, 1996), p. 1.ИЗБОРИ '96: ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (1996), p. 50. The Socialist Party's alliance won the election, and the Radicals initially served in opposition. In 1998, the SRS joined a coalition government led by the Socialists in Serbia, and the following year the party also joined the governing coalition at the federal level in Yugoslavia.
In December 1998, Jovanoviċ was one of nineteen Serbian politicians denied entry to European Union (EU) countries for what was described as her role in bringing about a restrictive new law on public information. During this time, she was the chair of the Radical Party's regional board in Šumadija."Serbian daily says EU to ban politicians for "abuse" of information law," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 16 December 1998 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 0707 gmt 15 Dec 98).
Jovanović led the Radical Party's list for Kragujevac again in the 2000 Yugoslavian general election and was defeated when the party failed to win any seats in the division.Velika Srbija [Radical Party publication], September 2000, p. 9.ИЗБОРИ 2000: ВЕЋЕ РЕПУБЛИКА И ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (2000), p. 78. She also sought election to the Kragujevac city assembly in the concurrent 2000 Serbian local elections and, like all Radical Party party candidates in the city for this cycle, was defeated.Velika Srbija [Serbian Radical Party publication], Volume 11 Number 1201 (Belgrade, September 2000), p. 22. (This was the last regular local election cycle in which candidates were elected for single-member constituencies. All subsequent cycles have been held under proportional representation.)
Both the Yugoslavian parliamentary election and the local elections were overshadowed by the 2000 Yugoslavian presidential election, in which Slobodan Milošević fell from power after being defeated by Vojislav Koštunica of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS). The Serbian government fell after Milošević's defeat in the Yugoslavian vote, and a new Serbian parliamentary election was called for December 2000. Serbia's electoral laws were reformed prior to the vote, such that the entire country became a single electoral district and all mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions, irrespective of numerical order.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 6 June 2021.
Serbian parliamentarian (2001–12) Jovanović received the fourteenth position on the Radical Party's list for the 2000 Serbian parliamentary election and was awarded a mandate after the list won twenty-three out of 250 seats. She took her seat when the new assembly convened in January 2001.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 23. децембра 2000. године и 10. јануара 2001. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (1 Српска радикална странка – др Војислав Шешељ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024.PRVA KONSTITUTIVNA SEDNICA, 22.01.2001., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 29 December 2001. The Democratic Opposition of Serbia won a landslide victory in this election, and the Radicals served in opposition.
The Radical Party often took an obstructionist approach in the national assembly after the 2000 election. In April 2001, Jovanović refused to leave the floor after exceeding her allotted time to speak, leading to the assembly being adjourned.Beti Bilandzic, "Serb radicals claim persecution, snarl legislature," Reuters News, 19 April 2001. On another occasion, she splashed water on speaker Nataša Mićić during a contentious debate."SERBIAN PARLIAMENT WITHOUT QUORUM, DSS MIGHT BE OUSTED FROM DOS," HINA, 22 May 2002. She took part in a rally outside the legislature in October 2003, saying that the Radical Party would seek to bring down the "criminal" DOS government as soon as possible."Serbian opposition, union protesters call for fall of "corrupt" government," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 29 October 2003 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1438 gmt 29 Oct 03).
Jovanović appeared in the twelfth position on the SRS's list in the 2003 parliamentary election and was again included in her party's delegation when the list won eighty-two seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (2. СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - др ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024.PRVA SEDNICA, 27.01.2004., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 7 December 2004. Although the Radicals were the largest party in the assembly after the election, they fell short of a majority and ultimately remained in opposition. In her second term, Jovanović was deputy chair of the committee on trade and tourism and a member of the defence and security committee and the committee on gender equality.Детаљи о народном посланику: ЈОВАНОВИЋ, НАТАША, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 4 January 2025.
Jovanović led the Radical Party's electoral list for Kragujevac in the 2004 Serbian local elections and was elected when the list won thirteen out of eighty-seven seats, placing third against Veroljub Stevanović's multi-party alliance led by the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO).Službeni List (Grada Kragujevca), Volume 14 Number 13 (26 November 2004), p. 269.Lokalni Izbori – Republika Srbija, Lokalni Izbori 2004, Bureau of Statistics, Republic of Serbia, pp. 14, 80.In the 2004 local elections, the first one-third of mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order while the remaining two-thirds were distributed amongst other candidates at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions. See Law on Local Elections (June 2002) , Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 33/2002; made available via LegislationOnline, , accessed 7 April 2024. Jovanović was automatically elected by virtue of her list position. The Radicals did not participate in the city's governing coalition and served in opposition at this level as well.Direktorijum lokalnih samouprava u Srbiji, Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID), September 2005, p. 160.
At a February 2006 rally, Jovanović described Ratko Mladić, at the time a fugitive and accused Serbian war criminal, as "the pride of the Serbian nation, unlike those in power.""Serbian nationalists urge Mladic to hold out," Agence France Presse, 24 February 2006.
Jovanović received the thirty-second position on the Radical Party's list in the 2007 parliamentary election and was given a mandate for a third term when the list won eighty-one seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (4 Српска радикална странка - др Војислав Шешељ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024. As in 2003, the Radicals won the greatest number of seats but fell short of a majority. After the election, Jovanović led the Radical Party's negotiating team in pro forma talks with Democratic Party (DS) Serbian president Boris Tadić on the formation of a new ministry; she argued that a member of the Radical Party should be nominated for prime minister and that Tadić should resign due to a poor showing by his party."Serbian Radicals refuse to name candidate for PM-designate in talks with preside" [sic], British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 30 January 2017 (Source: Radio Belgrade in Serbian 1400 gmt 29 Jan 07). This advice was predictably not taken. The DS, the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and G17 Plus instead formed a coalition government, and the Radicals remained in opposition. This notwithstanding, Jovanović was chosen as a deputy speaker of the assembly in May 2007."Serbian parliament elects deputy Speakers," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 9 May 2017 (Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1358 gmt 9 May 07). She also served on the defence committee and the culture and information committee.Multi-party National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia (1991-2024), National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 4 January 2024.Детаљи о народном посланику: ЈОВАНОВИЋ, НАТАША, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 4 January 2025.