Vitomir Pijevac (; born 15 December 1944) is a Serbian former administrator and politician. He served in the assembly of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 2000 to 2003 and has held high municipal office in Priboj. Pijevac is a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).
Private career Pijevac holds a Master of Technical Sciences degree.VEĆE GRAĐANA SAVEZNE SKUPŠTINE, , Socialist Party of Serbia, 14 January 2001, accessed 14 May 2026. For most of the 1990s, he was the general director of Fabrika automobila Priboj (FAP), a prominent employer in the municipality.Borba, 2 December 1994, p. 13.Borba, 12 June 2000, p. 2. He stood down from the role in October 2000, as part of a larger wave of changes in Serbia after the fall of Slobodan Milošević."SMENJEN DIREKTOR PRIBOJSKOG FAP-a", Užice na internetu, 29 October 2000, accessed 14 May 2026.
By the 2010s, Pijevac was the coordinator for small hydro power plants in Priboj."Serbia Lim River Basin Offer of Small HPP Locations Attracts Investors", Serbia Energy, 12 March 2023, accessed 14 May 2026.
Politician Pijevac credited the Socialist Party with maintaining peace between the Serb and Bosniak (Muslim) communities of Priboj when campaigning for the party in the repeated 1997 Serbian presidential election. He said, "In defending peace and communal life in these areas, the SPS brings together not only Serbs, but also many Muslims, without whose engagement and contribution we would not have succeeded in our efforts."Borba, 26 November 1997, p. 2.
Federal parliamentarian (2000–03) The Socialist Party of Serbia contested the 2000 Yugoslavian parliamentary election in an alliance with the Yugoslav Left (JUL). Pijevac appeared in the third position out of four on their combined electoral list for the federal assembly's Chamber of Citizens in the Užice division."IZBORI 2000: LISTA KANDIDATA ZA SAVEZNE POSLANIKE", Užice na internetu, 3 September 2000, accessed 29 May 2026. The list won two seats, and he was awarded a mandate.ИЗБОРИ 2000: ВЕЋЕ РЕПУБЛИКА И ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (2000), p. 55."SMENJEN DIREKTOR PRIBOJSKOG FAP-a", Užice na internetu, 29 October 2000, accessed 14 May 2026.VEĆE GRAĐANA SAVEZNE SKUPŠTINE, , Socialist Party of Serbia, 14 January 2001, accessed 7 March 2026. (For this election, half of the assembly mandates were assigned to candidates on successful lists in numerical order and the other half at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions. Pijevac was given the list's "optional" mandate.)"Ko su poslanici" , Vreme, 28 September 2000, accessed 10 November 2021. The Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) won the election in Serbia and, after Milošević's fall from power on 5 October 2000, formed a coalition government with the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro (SNP CG). The Socialists served in opposition for the term that followed.
The Federal Republic Yugoslavia was restructured as the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro in early 2003. The new country had a unicameral parliament, whose first members were chosen by indirect election from the republican parliaments of Serbia and Montenegro; only sitting members of the republican parliaments and outgoing members of the old federal parliament were eligible to serve. By virtue of its standing in the Serbian parliament, the Socialist Party had the right to appoint twelve members. Pijevac was not included in his party's delegation,PETO VANREDNO ZASEDANjE, 25.02.2003., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 14 May 2026. and his term in the federal assembly came to an end.
Republican and local politics (2003–08) The Socialist Party's alliance had won the 2000 local elections in Priboj, but their administration fell in early 2002, and new local elections took place in the municipality in September and October 2003. Serbia had introduced direct mayoral elections the previous year, and Pijevac ran as the Socialist Party's mayoral candidate. He was defeated in the second round of voting by Milenko Milićević of the Democratic Party (DS). He did, however, receive a mandate in the concurrent municipal assembly election.Direktorijum lokalnih samouprava u Srbiji, Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID), September 2005, p. 277. The Socialists won eight seats in the assembly overall and, notwithstanding Milićević serving in the role of mayor, formed a local coalition government afterward with the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS) and the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS).Direktorijum lokalnih samouprava u Srbiji, Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID), September 2005, p. 276.
Pijevac later appeared in the 182nd position on the Socialist Party's list in the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election, which took place on 28 December.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (9. СОЦИЈАЛИСТИЧКА ПАРТИЈА СРБИЈЕ - СЛОБОДАН МИЛОШЕВИЋ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024. The list won twenty-two seats, and he was not given a mandate."Skupština čeka demokrate," , Glas javnosti, 13 January 2004, accessed 9 July 2025. (From 2000 to 2011, all mandates in Serbian parliamentary elections 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. Pijevac's position on the list, which was in any event mostly alphabetical, had no specific bearing on his chances of election.)
Priboj is located on Serbia's border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the area was directly affected by the events of the Bosnian War from 1992 to 1995. On 22 October 1992, sixteen Serbian and Yugoslavian citizens of Bosniak ethnicity were kidnapped by members of Milan Lukić's "Avengers" militia from a bus travelling to Priboj through Bosnian Serb territory; they were later tortured and executed, an event known as the Sjeverin massacre. There have long been suggestions of Serbian state collusion in these events, and the matter remains contested in Serbia. In July 2004, Pijevac took part in a round table discussion in Priboj's Lim hotel that addressed the legacy of the Bosnian War in the area. In his comments, he stressed that "all Priboj citizens are neighbours regardless of name, religion, and nation," adding that this "has always been and should be, but that there are forces that do not like it." He also criticized the working language of the conference being described as "Bosnian–Croatian–Serbian," noting that the discussion was taking place on Serbian territory and there were "neither Croats nor Bosnians" in attendance. His comments caused a murmur of discontent among some other attendees. A relative of one of the victims openly asked Pijevac about "his role" in the massacre; he did not respond to the implied charge but said that it was necessary to establish the truth about the events. (Pijevac has never been charged with any involvement in the crime.)"Krivci se i dalje šetaju Sbijom" [sic], Vreme, 16 February 2005, accessed 16 May 2026. This source erroneously asserts that Pijevac was president of Priboj at the time of the massacre.
Pijevac received the 179th position on the Socialist Party's list in the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election and was again not given a mandate when the party fell to sixteen seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (11 Социјалистичка партија Србије), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024.14 February 2007 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 5 March 2017. As in 2003, the list was mostly alphabetical.
Local official (2008–14) The direct election of mayors proved to be a short-lived experiment and was abandoned with the 2008 local elections. In Priboj, an alliance of the SRS and DSS won a plurality victory in 2008 with thirteen seats, while a separate alliance of the Socialist Party and the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS) won four.Lokalni Izbori 2008; Bureau of Statistics, Republic of Serbia; p. 64. The SRS–DSS group subsequently formed a coalition government that included the Socialists, and Pijevac was chosen as assembly president."Socijalisti se priklonili 'narodnjacima'", Danas, 11 July 2008, accessed 14 May 2026. When the Radicals split later in 2008, the entire party leadership in Priboj joined the breakaway Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and continued serving in government, still maintaining their alliance with the SPS. In September 2009, an article in Danas identified Pijevac as part of a "hardline" wing within the Socialist Party and noted that the assembly's opposition parties often accused him of being the person most responsible for the municipality's economic hardships.D. Gudurić, "Najviše kritika na račun „tvrdog“ krila SPS", Danas, 3 September 2009, accessed 14 May 2026.
The 2012 Serbian local elections resulted in an extremely divided assembly in Priboj, and the Progressives ultimately formed a broad coalition government that included several parties, including the Socialists. Pijevac received the third position on a joint SPS–PUPS list and was re-elected when the list won five seats; he resigned his assembly seat almost immediately, however, on being appointed to serve on the municipal council (i.e., the executive branch of the municipal government).Službeni List (Opštine Priboj), Volume 15 Number 3 (25 April 2012), p. 5.Službeni List (Opštine Priboj), Volume 15 Number 4 (8 May 2012), pp. 1-2.S. Bjelić, "Vasilić: U interesu DS i građana", Danas, 5 July 2012, accessed 14 May 2026. He continued in this role until May 2014, when the local government was restructured."Promjena strukture lokalne vlasti u Priboju", Sandžak Press, 15 May 2014, accessed 14 May 2026.
Electoral record Local (Priboj)
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