Nebojša Ćeran

Nebojša Ćeran (Serbian Cyrillic: Небојша Ћеран; born 24 October 1964) is an engineer and former politician and administrator in Serbia. He was the mayor of the Belgrade municipality of Obrenovac from 2004 to 2008 and a member of the National Assembly of Serbia from 2008 to 2012, serving with the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS).

Early life and career

Ćeran was born in Obrenovac, Belgrade, in what was then the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.[1] He is a graduate of the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy at the University of Belgrade.[2] After graduating, he worked for many years at TPP Nikola Tesla.[3]

Politician and administrator

Mayor and parliamentarian

Ćeran joined the DS in 2000. He appeared in the 194th position out of 250 on the party's electoral list in the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election; the list won thirty-seven seats, and he was not included in the DS parliamentary delegation.[4] (From 2000 to 2011, mandates in Serbian parliamentary elections were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than individual candidates, and it was common practice for the mandates to be assigned out of numerical order. Ćeran's specific position on the list had no bearing on whether he received a mandate.)[5]

For the 2004 Serbian local elections, Ćeran was given the second position on the DS list for the Obrenovac municipal assembly.[6] The list won thirteen out of fifty-five seats, finishing a close second against the Serbian Radical Party, which won fourteen.[7] No party in the assembly came close to commanding a majority of seats on its own, and the DS was ultimately able to form a local coalition government with the support of other parties. Ćeran was chosen as mayor, serving in this role for the next four years.[8] He also appeared on the DS's list for a second time at the republic level in the 2007 parliamentary election and was again not selected for a mandate after the list won sixty-four seats.[9]

The DS contested the 2008 parliamentary election at the head of a coalition called For a European Serbia. Ćeran appeared in the 227th position on the list, which was mostly alphabetical. For a European Serbia won 102 seats, and on this occasion he was assigned a mandate as a DS representative.[10][11] He also led the For a European Serbia coalition to a first-place finish in Obrenovac in the concurrent 2008 Serbian local elections, although he did not continue as mayor after the election and chose not to take a seat in the local assembly.[12][13]

Although the 2008 parliamentary elections were initially inconclusive, For a European Serbia ultimately formed a coalition government with the Socialist Party of Serbia, and Ćeran served as a supporter of the administration. He was also appointed as general director of RB Kolubara in 2009 and served in this role for the next three years.[14]

Since 2012

Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that mandates were awarded in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. Ćeran was given the 122nd position on the DS's Choice for a Better Life list in the 2012 parliamentary election and was not re-elected when the list won sixty-seven seats.[15] He also appeared in the fourth position on the DS's list for Obrenovac in the 2012 local elections and was this time elected to the local assembly when the list won twelve seats, finishing second against the Serbian Progressive Party.[16][17]

In September 2012, Ćeran was appointed as acting director of the Belgrade City Transportation Company.[18] He served in this role over the following year.

Ćeran was arrested in September 2013, on the charge of embezzlement in the expropriation of land while serving as chair of Kolabura. Ćeran claimed innocence, saying that he prevented robbery in the amount of one hundred million euros during his tenure.[19] He was also defended by DS leader Dragan Đilas, who charged that the arrest was politically motivated.[20][21] Although the arrest attracted a considerable amount of media attention, online sources do not indicate if the matter actually went to trial.

In the 2014 Serbian parliamentary election, Ćeran received the fifty-fifth position on the DS list. The list won only nineteen mandates, and he was not elected.[22] He has not sought a return to public office since this time.

References

  1. ^ NEBOJŠA ĆERAN, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 1 June 2021.
  2. ^ "Uzbunjivač", Danas, 10 September 2013, accessed 1 June 2021.
  3. ^ Nebojša Ćeran, v.d. generalnog direktora GSP "Beograd" - Biografija, eKapija, 27 September 2012, accessed 1 June 2021.
  4. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ДЕМОКРАТСКА СТРАНКА - БОРИС ТАДИЋ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 18 May 2021.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 48 Number 24 (8 September 2004), p. 116.
  7. ^ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 48 Number 29 (4 October 2004), p. 2.
  8. ^ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 48 Number 35 (15 December 2004), p. 17.
  9. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Демократска странка - Борис Тадић), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 18 May 2021. He received the 236rd position.
  10. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ЗА ЕВРОПСКУ СРБИЈУ - БОРИС ТАДИЋ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 18 May 2021. The letter "ć" appears toward the end of the Serbian alphabet.
  11. ^ 11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 1 June 2021.
  12. ^ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 52 Number 13 (30 April 2008), p. 41. The list finished first in the municipal election with nineteen seats. See Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 52 Number 18 (22 May 2008), p. 5.
  13. ^ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 52 Number 21 (25 June 2008), p. 11.
  14. ^ See for instance Zoran Majdin, "Kroz tesnac na široko polje", Vreme, 26 July 2012, accessed 1 June 2012.
  15. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ИЗБОР ЗА БОЉИ ЖИВОТ- БОРИС ТАДИЋ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 18 May 2021.
  16. ^ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 56 Number 21 (25 April 2012), p. 116.
  17. ^ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 56 Number 29 (16 May 2012), p. 3.
  18. ^ "Nebojša Ćeran v.d. direktora GSP-a", B92, 27 September 2012, accessed 1 June 2021.
  19. ^ "Uhapšen Nebojša Ćeran, v.d. beogradskog GSP-a zbog malverzacija u Kolubari", Danas, 9 September 2013, accessed 1 June 2021.
  20. ^ "Đilas: Hapšenje Ćerana je besmisleno, sprečio je pljačku", Blic (Source: Beta), 9 September 2013, accessed 1 June 2021.
  21. ^ B. Puzović, "Ćeran i Kene u pritvoru", Novosti, 9 September 2013, accessed 1 June 2021.
  22. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (СА ДЕМОКРАТСКОМ СТРАНКОМ ЗА ДЕМОКРАТСКУ СРБИЈУ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 18 May 2021.