Elena Božić Talijan

Elena Božić Talijan in 2012

Elena Božić Talijan (Serbian Cyrillic: Елена Божић Талијан; born 7 September 1970) is a journalist and politician in Serbia. She has served in the City Assembly of Belgrade and the National Assembly of Serbia as a member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (Srpska radikalna stranka, SRS) and was the party's secretary-general from 2008 to 2012.

Journalist

Božić Talijan worked for Radio Novosti in the 1990s, and in 2000 she worked for Studio B.[1] For several years, she was the editor of Velika Srbija, the Radical Party's journal.[2] She has contributed to the newspaper Novosti since withdrawing from active political life in 2012.[3]

Election supervisor

Božić Talijan was appointed to the election commission of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia prior to the 2000 general election.[4]

She was later appointed by the SRS to a multi-party committee entrusted with overseeing media coverage of the 2000 Serbian parliamentary election and was chosen by the committee's membership as its chair. The committee – which was dominated by parties that comprised the government of Serbia prior to Slobodan Milošević's fall from power – contended that the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Demokratska opozicija Srbije, DOS) was benefitting from disproportionate and favourable coverage in the Serbia media.[5][6] After the election, Božić Talijan held a press conference in which she argued that Serbian media outlets had competed with each other in "disregarding legal norms" to support the DOS and that the committee would seek the annulment of the elections. When the sole DOS member of the committee dissented from this statement, Božić Talijan abruptly left the press conference without any explanation.[7] The elections were not annulled.

Politician

Božić Talijan appeared in the sixteenth position on the SRS's electoral list for the Belgrade city assembly in the 2004 Serbian local elections and received a mandate when the party won twenty-seven seats.[8][9] The Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS) won the election, and the Radicals served in opposition.

Božić Talijan later received the twenty-second position on the Radical Party's list in the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election.[10] The list won eighty-one seats, and she was included afterward in her party's assembly delegation.[11] (From 2000 to 2011, Serbian parliamentary mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for mandates to be assigned out of numerical order. Božić Talijan was not automatically elected by virtue of her position on the list, although she was given a mandate all the same.)[12] Although the Radicals won more seats than any other party in this election, they fell well short of a majority and ultimately served in opposition. Božić Talijan chaired the assembly committee on gender equality and was a member of the committee for poverty reduction.[13]

She resigned from the Belgrade city assembly after being elected to the national parliament.[14] The date of her resignation does not appear in Belgrade's Official Gazette, though it no occurred later than 11 September 2007, when her replacement was granted a mandate.[15]

Božić Talijan was given the sixteenth position on the SRS's list in the 2008 parliamentary election and was chosen for another term when the list won seventy-eight mandates.[16][17] The results of this election were inconclusive, but the For a European Serbia (Za evropsku Srbiju, ZES) alliance led by the DS ultimately formed a coalition government with the Socialist Party of Serbia (Socijalistička partija Srbije, SPS), and the Radicals remained in opposition. The SRS faced a serious split later in the year, when several of its members joined the breakaway Serbian Progressive Party (Srpska napredna stranka, SNS) under the leadership of Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić. Božić Talijan remained with the Radicals. She continued to chair the committee on gender equality.[18]

On 20 September 2008, Božić Talijan was chosen to be Vučić's replacement as secretary-general of the SRS.[19] She resigned from parliament a year later to focus on her administrative responsibilities; her resignation was initially declined by the legislature, but it became official on 24 December 2009.[20][21]

Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that all mandates were awarded in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. Božić Talijan appeared in the third position on the SRS's list in the 2012 parliamentary election.[22] The party did not cross the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly. Božić Talijan resigned as secretary-general after the election and has not been politically active since this time.[23]

References

  1. ^ "Pravnici za pravičnost", Glas javnosti, 23 August 2000, accessed 6 June 2022.
  2. ^ "Serbian Radicals' [sic] to find 'best solution' for Belgrade broadcaster," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 29 May 2000 (Source: Text of report by Serbian independent news agency Beta).
  3. ^ See for instance Елена БОЖИЋ ТАЛИЈАН, "БРАТАНАЦ ЈЕ СВАКОДНЕВНО ТУКАО И ВРЕЂАО: Ударао ме даском, а одгајила сам га као сина", Novosti, 6 September 2018, accessed 6 June 2022.
  4. ^ "Pravnici za pravičnost", Glas javnosti, 23 August 2000, accessed 6 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Media watchdog says Serbian TV giving too much coverage to DOS," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European – Political, 8 December 2000 (Source: Radio B92, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1600 gmt 8 Dec 00).
  6. ^ "Serbian election committee accuses media of violating election rules," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European – Political, 24 December 2000 (Source: Text of report by Serbian news agency Beta).
  7. ^ "Serbian election watchdog divided over regularity of elections," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European – Political, 25 December 2000 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1710 gmt 24 Dec 00).
  8. ^ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 48 Number 24 (8 September 2004), p. 5.
  9. ^ In the 2004 local elections, the first one-third of mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order. Božić Talijan was not automatically elected by virtue of her list position. See Law on Local Elections Archived 2021-06-02 at the Wayback Machine, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 33/2002; made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 29 May 2021.
  10. ^ 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 2 July 2021
  11. ^ 14 February 2007 legislature, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 5 March 2017.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ ДЕТАЉИ О НАРОДНОМ ПОСЛАНИКУ: БОЖИЋ - ТАЛИЈАН, ЕЛЕНА, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-12-29. Retrieved 2022-06-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 December 2021.
  14. ^ See Одборници Скупштине града, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-06-10. Retrieved 2022-06-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), City of Belgrade, accessed 6 June 2022; and Одборници Скупштине града, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-11-12. Retrieved 2022-06-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), City of Belgrade, accessed 6 June 2022. Božić Talijan is listed as a city assembly member in the former list but not the latter.
  15. ^ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 51 Number 29 (11 September 2007), p. 1.
  16. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (4 СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - Др ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 2 July 2021.
  17. ^ 11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 6 June 2022.
  18. ^ ДЕТАЉИ О НАРОДНОМ ПОСЛАНИКУ: БОЖИЋ - ТАЛИЈАН, ЕЛЕНА, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-10-28. Retrieved 2023-02-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 6 June 2022.
  19. ^ "Božić-Talijan umesto Vučića", Radio Television of Vojvodina, 20 September 2008, accessed 6 June 2022.
  20. ^ "Da li su ostavke radikalki u skladu sa zakonom", Politika, 7 October 2009, accessed 6 June 2022.
  21. ^ Информације о одржаним седницама 2009. године (28. децембар 2009. године), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 6 June 2022.
  22. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (2 СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - ДР ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 28 September 2021.
  23. ^ "Večernje novosti: Pritisak u SRS da Vjerica Radeta podnese ostavku", Nova srpska politička misao, 12 May 2012, accessed 6 June 2022.