Petar Petrović (Serbian politician, born 1951)

Petar Petrović (; born 2 October 1951) is a Serbian politician. He served in the Serbian parliament for most of the period from 2001 to 2020, originally as a member of the Party of Serbian Unity (SSJ) and later with United Serbia (JS). Petrović has also held high office at the city level in Jagodina.

Early life and career Petrović was born to family of farmers in the village of Loćika in the municipality of Rekovac, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He has described his family as rising from poverty to become the wealthiest family in the village, owning a ten-hectare estate.Mirjana Čekerevac, "Od Arkana preko SPS-a do Palme", Politika, 17 December 2007, accessed 18 January 2025. He graduated from the University of Kragujevac Faculty of Law and later moved to Jagodina, where he worked in management with the cable manufacturing company Kablovi and was director of the public utility Standard.ПОТПРЕДСЕДНИЦИ, , United Serbia, accessed 18 January 2025.

Politician League of Communists and Socialist Party of Serbia Petrović was recommended for membership in the League of Communists of Serbia (SKS) while serving in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). He was an active party member in the time of the Socialist Republic of Serbia, when the SKS was the only legally recognized party. After the re-introduction of multi-party politics in 1990, he became a member of the successor Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). He left that party in 1993, due to what he described as "shady activities" taking place there.

Party of Serbian Unity Petrović re-entered political life as a member of the Party of Serbian Unity, on the advice of fellow Jagodina politician Dragan Marković Palma. Of the SSJ's founder, the paramilitary leader Željko Ražnatović Arkan, Petrović later said, "regardless of the stories that followed him, [he] was good to all of us" and was "destined to be a leader."

Jagodina was the only electoral division that the SSJ contested in the 1997 Serbian parliamentary election. Petrović appeared in the second position on the party's electoral list, following Marković.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997. године – ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (17 Јагодина), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 18 January 2025. The list did not cross the electoral threshold to win any mandates. The SSJ later moved its headquarters to Jagodina in 1998, due in part to its participation in the municipal government.Dragoslav Grujić, "I am a man of life", Vreme, 10 August 2011, accessed 18 January 2025. After the assassination of Arkan in January 2000, Borislav Pelević became the party's leader.

Incumbent Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milošević fell from power after losing to Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) candidate Vojislav Koštunica in the 2000 Yugoslavian presidential election. Serbia's government also fell after Milošević's defeat, and a new Serbian parliamentary election was called for December 2000. Prior to the vote, Serbia's electoral laws were changed such that the entire country became a single electoral division 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. Petrović appeared in the fourth position on the SSJ's list and received a mandate after the list unexpectedly won fourteen seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 23. децембра 2000. године и 10. јануара 2001. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (5 Странка српског јединства – професор Борислав Пелевић), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024.PRVA KONSTITUTIVNA SEDNICA, 22.01.2001., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 29 May 2018. The DOS won a landslide victory, and the SSJ served in opposition for the parliament that followed. In his first term, Petrović was a member of the legislative committee, the administrative committee, and the committee on the judiciary and administration.Детаљи о народном посланику: ПЕТРОВИЋ, ПЕТАР, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 18 January 2025. He was by his own admission known for sharp insults directed toward government members in his first term, though he later said that he never attacked his opponents on a personal level.

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was officially reconstituted as the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro in February 2003, and the federal assembly of Serbia and Montenegro was established at the same time. The first delegates from Serbia were chosen by a form of indirect election, with each parliamentary group in the Serbian parliament allowed representation in the federal body proportional to its numbers. Only sitting members of the Serbian parliament or the Montenegrin parliament, or outgoing members of the Yugoslavian parliament, were eligible to serve. The SSJ was permitted five members in the federal assembly, and Petrović was included in the party's delegation."Poslanici nove države", , Glas Javnosti, 20 February 2003, accessed 18 January 2025. He also continued to serve in the Serbian parliament after his appointment.

The SSJ contested the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election at the head of a coalition called For National Unity. Petrović received the 163rd position on its list, which was mostly alphabetical.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (8. "ЗА НАРОДНО ЈЕДИНСТВО" проф. БОРИСЛАВ ПЕЛЕВИЋ И МАРИЈАН РИСТИЧЕВИЋ (Странка српског јединства, Народна сељачка странка, Народна странка, Наш дом Србија и Српска странка)), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024. The list failed to cross the electoral threshold. Petrović stood down from both his republican and federal mandates when the new assemblies convened in early 2004.

United Serbia 2004–2012 The Party of Serbian Unity split in February 2004, and Marković and Petrović formed a breakaway group called United Serbia. Marković became the new party's leader."New party, United Serbia, formed after conflicts in Party of Serbian Unity," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 20 February 2004 (Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1333 gmt 20 Feb 04).

Serbia introduced the direct election of mayors with the 2004 Serbian local elections. Marković was elected as mayor of Jagodina, and United Serbia also won a plurality victory in the municipal assembly election with sixteen out of forty-one seats.ЛОКАЛНИ ИЗБОРИ: Председници општина и градова, изабрани на локалним изборима, 2004., , Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 3 October 2010, accessed 12 July 2021; "Dragan Marković pobedio u Jagodini", B92, 4 October 2004, accessed 8 September 2004; Njegoš Manojlović, "odgovornost politi~kih stranaka", Center for Free Elections and Democracy, 2005, accessed 8 September 2022.ЛОКАЛНИ ИЗБОРИ: Председници општина и градова, изабрани на локалним изборима, 2004., , Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 3 October 2010, accessed 12 July 2021; Bureau of Statistics, Republic of Serbia; pp. 14, 82; Lokalni Izbori u Srbiji 2004, , Center for Free Elections and Democracy, 27 September 2007, accessed 7 September 2022. Petrović was elected to the assembly and served afterward on the municipal council (i.e., the executive branch of the local government).Direktorijum lokalnih samouprava u Srbiji, Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID), September 2005, pp. 140-141.

United Serbia contested the 2007 parliamentary election on the coalition electoral list of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and New Serbia (NS), and Petrović appeared in the 199th position.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (5 Демократска странка Србије - Нова Србија - др Војислав Коштуница), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024."Spisak poslanika za Skupštinu Srbije", Politika, 13 February 2007, accessed 24 December 2024. The list won forty-seven seats, two of which were assigned to United Serbia members; Petrović was one of the JS candidates given a mandate."Правници на власти", Novosti, 15 February 2007, accessed 31 May 2018. The DSS–NS alliance afterward formed a coalition government with the Democratic Party (DS) and G17 Plus, and Petrović served as a government supporter. In his second term, he was a member of the legislative committee and the committee on local self-government.Детаљи о народном посланику: ПЕТРОВИЋ, ПЕТАР, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 18 January 2025.

The governing coalition broke down in early 2008, and a new parliamentary election was called for May of that year. Prior to the vote, United Serbia joined the political coalition led by the Socialist Party of Serbia. Petrović appeared in the tenth position on the SPS's list and was awarded a mandate for a third term after the list won twenty seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (5 Социјалистичка партија Србије (СПС), - Партија уједињних пензионера Србије (ПУПС) - Јединствена Србија (ЈС)), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024.11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 11 December 2017."Socijalisti bliži demokratama", Politika, 4 June 2008, accessed 18 January 2025. The overall results of the election were inconclusive, and the Socialists initially held coalition talks with the DSS and the Serbian Radical Party (SRS). These talks were not successful, and the SPS instead joined a coalition with the DS-led For a European Serbia (ZES) alliance. Notwithstanding its origins in Serbian nationalism, United Serbia favoured a coalition with ZES; this is believed to have influenced the Socialist Party's decision. When the ZES–SPS coalition was announced, Petrović commented with approval that a "pro-European government of Serbia [would] be formed very quickly.""Serbian analysts view government "agreement" between Democrats, Socialists," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 18 June 2008 (Source: Blic, Belgrade, in Serbian 13 Jun 08). United Serbia was not actually part of the new government but provided vital support in the assembly. In the 2008–12 term, Petrović was a member of the industry committee, the legislative committee, the committee for culture and information, and the committee for European integration; a deputy member of the privatization committee; a member of Serbia's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean; and a member of Serbia's parliamentary friendship group with Austria.ПЕТАР ПЕТРОВИЋ, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 18 January 2025.