Vera Paunović

Vera Paunović (Serbian Cyrillic: Вера Пауновић; 15 December 1947 – 21 February 2020)[1][2] was a politician in Serbia. She served in the National Assembly of Serbia as a member of the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS) on an almost continuous basis from 2012 until her death.

Early life and private career

Paunović completed Belgrade's Higher School of Economics program in 1974–75 and subsequently worked for RB Kolubara in her home community of Lazarevac, Belgrade as a financial services manager.[3]

Political career

Paunović was a founding member of the PUPS in 2006. She became party secretary for Lazarevac in 2009 and a member of the PUPS executive committee at the republic level in 2010, serving in both roles until her death.[3]

She was first elected to the National Assembly in the 2012 Serbian parliamentary election, which the PUPS contested in an alliance with the Socialist Party of Serbia. Paunović received the twenty-third position on the Socialist-led electoral list and was elected when the list won forty-four mandates.[4] After the election, the PUPS joined a coalition government led by the Serbian Progressive Party and the Socialists, and Paunović served with the ministry's parliamentary majority. She again received the twenty-third position on the Socialist list in the 2014 election and was re-elected when the list again won forty-four mandates.[5] The governing alliance of Progressives and Socialists continued after the election, and the PUPS assembly members continued to support the government.

In early 2016, the PUPS ended its electoral alliance with the Socialist Party and formed a new alliance with the Progressive Party, contesting the 2016 parliamentary election on the latter's Aleksandar Vučić – Serbia Is Winning list. Paunović received the 228th list position (out of 250).[6] This was too low a position for direct election to be a realistic prospect, and she was not initially re-elected even as the list won a majority victory with 131 out of 250 seats. She was, however, awarded a mandate on 5 October 2016, as a replacement for party leader Milan Krkobabić, who resigned from parliament after being appointed as a government minister.[7][8]

During her final parliamentary term, Paunović was a member of Serbia's parliamentary friendship groups with Belarus, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Switzerland.[9] She served two terms as coordinator of the women's parliamentary network in Serbia in the course of her career.[10][11]

References

  1. ^ various obituaries (23 February 2020). Вера Пауновић 1947-2020. Politika (in Serbian).
  2. ^ Olena Papuga (24 February 2020). "Great Loss for Women's Parliamentary Network". National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.
  3. ^ a b VERA PAUNOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 17 May 2018.
  4. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ИВИЦА ДАЧИЋ - "СОЦИЈАЛИСТИЧКА ПАРТИЈА СРБИЈЕ (СПС), ПАРТИЈА УЈЕДИЊЕНИХ ПЕНЗИОНЕРА СРБИЈЕ (ПУПС), ЈЕДИНСТВЕНА СРБИЈА (ЈС)"), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  5. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ИВИЦА ДАЧИЋ - "Социјалистичка партија Србије (СПС), Партија уједињених пензионера Србије (ПУПС), Јединствена Србија (ЈС)"), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 27 February 2017.
  6. ^ Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (АЛЕКСАНДАР ВУЧИЋ - СРБИЈА ПОБЕЂУЈЕ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  7. ^ Додела мандата » Одлука о додели мандата народних посланика ради попуне упражњених посланичких места у Народној скупштини од 5. октобра 2016. године“), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 4 July 2017.
  8. ^ Serbia's 2011 electoral reforms stipulate that, in the event of the resignation of a member elected on a coalition list, the vacant mandate will fall to the first candidate on the list from the same party who was not awarded a mandate. See Law on the Election of Members of the Parliament (2000, as amended 2011) (Article 92) made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 28 February 2017.
  9. ^ VERA PAUNOVIC, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 17 May 2018.
  10. ^ "Vera Paunović: Važna podrška ženama", Novosti, 16 December 2015, accessed 17 May 2018.
  11. ^ Vera Paunović nova koordinatorka Ženske parlamentarne mreže, pink.rs, 4 July 2019, accessed 16 June 2020.