Jovica Zarkula

Jovica Zarkula (Serbian Cyrillic: Јовица Заркула; born 2 November 1959) is a politician in Serbia. He served for two terms as mayor of Vršac, was a member of the Assembly of Vojvodina from 2008 to 2011, and was a state secretary in the Government of Serbia from 2008 to 2012.

Zarkula joined the Socialist Party of Serbia (Socijalistička partija Srbije, SPS) on its founding in 1990. He was later the leader of the Movement of the Vršac Region–European Region political organization, and in 2016 he joined the Serbian Progressive Party (Srpska napredna stranka, SNS).

Early life and career

Zarkula was born in Bela Crkva, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. Raised in the community, he later graduated from the University of Novi Sad Faculty of Law and passed the master's exam at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law in 1996. He was secretary of Vršac Vineyards for ten years and served as chief of police in Vršac prior to his first term as mayor.[1][2]

Politician

Socialist Party of Serbia

Zarkula was elected to the Vršac municipal assembly in the 1996 Serbian local elections. The Zajedno (English: Together) coalition won a narrow majority victory in the municipality, and he initially led the SPS's group in opposition.[3] In September 1997, the Serbian Renewal Movement (Srpski pokret obnove, SPO) assembly group withdrew from Zajedno, and the Socialists were able to form a new administration with Zarkula as assembly president, a position that was at the time equivalent to mayor.[4]

SPS leader Slobodan Milošević was defeated by Vojislav Koštunica of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Demokratska opozicija Srbije, DOS) in the 2000 Yugoslavian presidential election, a watershed moment in the political culture of Yugoslavia and Serbia. The DOS also won a landslide victory in Vršac in concurrent the 2000 local elections, and Zarkula's first term as mayor came to an end.[5] After the election, he became director of the Millennium Center in the community.[6]

Movement of the Vršac Region

Zarkula joined the local Movement for the Vršac Region–European Region political organization after 2000. This group was described as "close to the SPS," and Zarkula continued to hold a membership in the Socialist Party for several years afterward.[7]

Serbia introduced the direct election of mayors for the 2004 Serbian local elections and also separated the positions of mayor and assembly president. Zarkula ran for another term as mayor of Vršac and won a narrow victory over incumbent Milorad Đurić of the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS). In 2005, Zarkula signed a major agreement on road reconstruction in the community with the Serbian government and the European Agency for Reconstruction.[8]

The direct election of mayors was ultimately a short-lived experiment; with the 2008 local elections, Serbia adopted a system in which mayors were chosen by the elected assembly members. Zarkula was re-elected to the Vršac assembly that year on the electoral list of the Movement for the Vršac Region. He was not chosen for another term as mayor. Zarkula was also elected to the Vojvodina assembly in the concurrent 2008 provincial election and served with the assembly group of the Socialist Party, becoming its deputy leader.[9] The SPS joined a coalition government led by the For a European Vojvodina alliance after the election, and Zarkula was a supporter of the administration. He was also appointed as a state secretary as Serbia's ministry of infrastructure, serving under SPS minister Milutin Mrkonjić.[10] After Vojvodina's conflict-of-interest laws were reformed in 2011, he was required to resign both of his assembly seats to continue as a state secretary.[11][12] He continued in office after the ministry was given additional responsibility for energy in April 2011.[13]

Zarkula was expelled from the SPS in 2012 and stood down as a state secretary in that year. He appeared in the second position on the electoral list of the Movement of the Vršac Region in the 2012 local elections and was re-elected when the list won a plurality victory with fifteen out of forty-five seats.[14][15] When the new assembly convened, he was chosen as its president.[16]

In November 2015, he became the leader of the Movement for the Vršac Region.[17] He appeared in the lead position on its list for the 2016 local elections and was re-elected when the list won seven seats.[18][19] He was confirmed for another term as assembly president after the election.[20]

Serbian Progressive Party

The Movement for the Vršac Region voted to dissolve itself in late 2016, and in October of that year Zarkula joined the Progressive Party (which already had a majority in Vršac assembly).[21] He stood down as assembly president in September 2017 and served the remainder of his term as an SNS delegate.[22][23] He was not a candidate in the 2020 local elections.

Electoral record

Local (Vršac)

2004 Municipality of Vršac local election: Mayor of Vršac (second round results)
CandidatePartyVotes%
Jovica ZarkulaMovement of the Vršac Region–European Region9,86950.44
Milorad Đurić (incumbent)Democratic Party9,69549.56
Total19,564100.00
Source: [24]

Provincial (Vojvodina)

2008 Vojvodina provincial election: Vršac
CandidatePartyFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Jovica ZarkulaCitizens' Group: Movement of the Vršac Region–European Region8,69432.997,66955.16
Mirko Dobrosavljević (incumbent)For a European Vojvodina, Democratic Party–G17 Plus, Boris Tadić (Affiliation: Democratic Party)6,40624.316,23344.84
Milovan MilišinSerbian Radical Party2,75910.47
Dragislav BiočaninSocialist Party of Serbia–Party of United Pensioners of Serbia2,69210.21
Slavko TimotijevićTogether for Vojvodina–Nenad Čanak1,7956.81
Zoran VelimirovićVojvodina's Party1,5445.86
Duško SolarevićDemocratic Party of Serbia9643.66
Todor GrozaGreen Party7712.93
Dragan TikićLiberal Democratic Party7292.77
Total26,354100.0013,902100.00
Valid votes27,69595.3813,90297.36
Invalid/blank votes1,3414.623772.64
Total votes29,036100.0014,279100.00
Source: [25]

References

  1. ^ Председник скупштине, Archived 2016-11-16 at the Wayback Machine, City of Vršac, accessed 25 June 2022.
  2. ^ Jovica Zarkula, istinomer.rs, accessed 25 June 2022.
  3. ^ Izbori Za Odbornike Skupština Opština i Gradova u Republici Srbiji, 1996, Bureau of Statistics – Republic of Serbia, p. 54-55.
  4. ^ "Leva koalicija i SPO zajedno", Naša borba, 25 October 1997, accessed 25 June 2022.
  5. ^ Izbori, 2000. Za Odbornike Skupština Opština i Gradova, Bureau of Statistics – Republic of Serbia, p. 41.
  6. ^ Председник скупштине, Archived 2016-11-16 at the Wayback Machine, City of Vršac, accessed 25 June 2022.
  7. ^ L. Valtner, "Odbornik, poslanik i Mrkonjićev sekretar, sve u isto vreme", Danas, 27 March 2011.
  8. ^ "EAR Grants 953,000 Euro for Road Reconstruction Project in Serbian Vrsac," Serbia and Montenegro News Digest, 26 July 2005.
  9. ^ L. Valtner, "Odbornik, poslanik i Mrkonjićev sekretar, sve u isto vreme", Danas, 27 March 2011.
  10. ^ Jovica Zarkula, istinomer.rs, accessed 25 June 2022.
  11. ^ "Jovica Zarkula podneo ostavke", Danas, 11 April 2011, accessed 25 June 2022.
  12. ^ The website of the provincial assembly indicates that his term in that body ended in 24 October 2011.
  13. ^ "Novi državni sekretari u Srbiji", Mondo, 5 April 2011, accessed 25 June 2022.
  14. ^ Službeni List (Opštine Vršac), Volume 40 Number 7 (25 April 2012), p. 54.
  15. ^ Službeni List (Opštine Vršac), Volume 40 Number 8 (7 May 2012), p. 93.
  16. ^ Jovica Zarkula, istinomer.rs, accessed 25 June 2022.
  17. ^ "Jovica Zarkula novi predsednik Pokreta", Moj Kraj (Vršac), 25 November 2015, accessed 25 June 2022.
  18. ^ Službeni List (Grada Vršca), Volume 1 Number 3 (13 April 2016), p. 15.
  19. ^ Službeni List (Grada Vršca), Volume 1 Number 6 (28 April 2016), p. 63.
  20. ^ "Dragana Mitrović nova gradonačelnica Vršca", B92, 16 May 2016, accessed 25 June 2022.
  21. ^ "Zarkula i Stojanovićeva se priključili SNS", Vršac Online, 5 October 2016, accessed 25 June 2022.
  22. ^ "Nenad Baroš izabran za predsednika gradske skupštine", Vesti Vršac (Banatmedia), 11 September 2017, accessed 25 June 2022.
  23. ^ ОДБОРНИЧКЕ ГРУПЕ У СКУПШТИНИ ГРАДА ВРШЦА, Archived 2020-08-07 at the Wayback Machine, City of Vršac, accessed 25 June 2022.
  24. ^ ЛОКАЛНИ ИЗБОРИ: Председници општина и градова, изабрани на локалним изборима, 2004., "REPUBLICKI ZAVOD ZA STATISTIKU - Republike Srbije". Archived from the original on 2010-10-03. Retrieved 2022-05-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 3 October 2010, accessed 12 July 2021.
  25. ^ Избори мај 2008. године - резултати по већинском изборном систему (12 ВРШАЦ), Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia, accessed 17 June 2022.