Miroslav Martić (; born 25 October 1951) is a Serbian former politician. He served in the Serbian parliament from 2001 to 2012 and was the mayor of Užice from 2000 to 2006. During his time as an elected official, Martić was a member of the Democratic Party (DS).
Early life and career Martić was born in Užice (known at the time as Titovo Užice), in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. Raised in the city, he later graduated from the University of Sarajevo Faculty of Political Science. He returned to Užice after his graduation, worked for a time in the Copper and Aluminum Rolling Mill, and was employed at the Užice Gymnasium as a sociology teacher until 1996.Miroslav Martić, , Democratic Party, accessed 7 May 2026.Miroslav Martić, , Democratic Opposition of Serbia, accessed 7 May 2026.
Politician 1990–2003 Martić joined the Democratic Party on its formation in 1990.Miroslav Martić, , Democratic Party, accessed 7 May 2026. During the 1990s, Serbia's political culture was dominated by Slobodan Milošević, leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).
The DS contested the 1996 Serbian local elections as part of the Zajedno (English: Together) alliance of opposition parties. Zajedno won majority victories in several major cities during this cycle, including in Užice, where it won thirty-eight out of sixty-seven seats.Izbori Za Odbornike Skupština Opština i Gradova u Republici Srbiji, 1996, Bureau of Statistics – Republic of Serbia, p. 77. When the city assembly convened on 14 December 1996, Milan Nikitović of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) was chosen as its president, a position that was then equivalent to mayor, and Martić became vice-president, equivalent to deputy mayor."MILAN NIKITOVIC NOVI PREDSEDNIK SKUPSTINE OPSTINE UZICE", Užice na internetu, 17 December 1996, accessed 24 May 2026. Martić represented the city on an official visit to Moscow in 1997, to mark a performance by the National Theatre Užice in the Russian capital.Borba, 28 June 1997, p. 8.
In 2000, the Democratic Party joined the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), a broad and ideologically diverse coalition of parties opposed to the Milošević regime. DOS candidate Vojislav Koštunica defeated Milošević in the 2000 Yugoslavian presidential election, and Milošević fell from power on 5 October 2000, a watershed moment in Serbian politics. The DOS also won victories in several cities and municipalities in the 2000 Serbian local elections, which took place concurrently with the Yugoslavian vote; in Užice, the alliance won a landslide victory with fifty seats.Izbori, 2000. Za Odbornike Skupština Opština i Gradova, Bureau of Statistics – Republic of Serbia, p. 64. Martić was chosen as assembly president on 12 October 2000.KONSTITUISANA SKUPSTINA OPSTINE UZICE, Užice na internetu, 15 October 2000, accessed 7 May 2026.
The Serbian government fell after Milošević's defeat in the Yugoslavian vote, and a new Serbian parliamentary election was called for December 2000. Prior to the vote, Serbia's electoral laws were reformed such that the country became a single at-large electoral division, and all mandates were assigned 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. Martić appeared in the 122nd position on the DOS's electoral list and was assigned a mandate after the list won a landslide victory with 176 seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 23. децембра 2000. године и 10. јануара 2001. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (4 Демократска опозиција Србије – др Војислав Коштуница (Демократска странка, Демократска странка Србије, Социјалдемократија, Грађански савез Србије, Демохришћанска странка Србије, Нова Србија, Покрет за демократску Србију, Лига социјалдемократа Војводине, Реформска демократска странка Војводине, Коалиција Војводина, Савез војвођанских Мађара, Демократска алтернатива, Демократски центар, Нова демократија, Социјалдемократска унија, Санxачка демократска партија, Лига за Шумадију, Српски покрет отпора – Демократски покрет), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024. He took his seat when the assembly convened in January 2001.PRVA KONSTITUTIVNA SEDNICA, 22.01.2001., Otvoreni Parlament, 11 January 2001, accessed 18 July 2021. In his first term, he served on the committee on interethnic relations and the committee on labour, veterans, and social affairs.МИРОСЛАВ МАРТИЋ, , Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 May 2026. In January 2002, he supported the government's Draft Law on Local Self-Government, which introduced the direct election of mayors and returned a number of powers to the municipalities.Borba, 22 January 2002, p. 5.Borba, 22 January 2002, p. 13.
During Martić's first mayoral term, he oversaw long-running projects for the construction of a gas pipeline for the city and a water supply system for the suburban Bela Zemlja area.Borba, 6 August 2003, p. 8.Borba, 19 January 2004, p. 8. Although the DOS coalition began to fragment at the republic level in 2001, it remained stable within the municipal government for the full duration of the term.Borba, 12 February 2004, p. 5.
2003–2012 The DS contested the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election at the head of its own alliance. Martić appeared in the 180th position on its electoral list and was given a mandate for a second term after the list won thirty-seven seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (5. ДЕМОКРАТСКА СТРАНКА – БОРИС ТАДИЋ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024."Podrška neoročenoj vladi", , Glas javnosti, 15 January 2004, accessed 13 March 2024. The rival Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) emerged as the dominant party in Serbia's coalition government after the election, and the DS served in opposition. In his second term, Martić was once again a member of the labour committee.Детаљи о народном посланику: МАРТИЋ, МИРОСЛАВ, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 May 2026.
For the 2004 local elections, the Serbian government separated the offices of mayor and assembly president and introduced direct mayoral elections. Martić was elected to a second term as mayor of Užice, defeating a candidate of the SPS in the second round. The DS subsequently formed a new local coalition government with the DSS, the SPO, the Civic Alliance of Serbia (GSS), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and the Democratic Alternative (DA).Direktorijum lokalnih samouprava u Srbiji, Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID), September 2005, p. 353. In November 2005, G17 Plus joined the coalition as well.Borba, 8 November 2005, p. 4. In early 2006, Martić signed a memorandum on new recycling services in the municipality.Borba, 11 February 2006, p. 5. In this period, he was a frequent critic and rival of Velimir Ilić, the leader of New Serbia and Serbia's minister of capital investments.Borba, 4 September 2004, p. 6.Borba, 10 May 2006, p. 4. Martić was ultimately removed from the mayoral office in a recall election in May 2006.
Martić later appeared in the 126th position on the DS's electoral list in the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (1 Демократска странка – Борис Тадић), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024. The list won sixty-four seats, and he was assigned a mandate for a third term."НОВИ ПАРЛАМЕНТ ОД СРЕДЕ", Novosti, 10 February 2007, accessed 10 September 2022. The DS, DSS, and G17 Plus formed an unstable coalition government after the election, and Martić was a government supporter. He once again served on the labour committee and was also a member of the committee on constitutional issues.Детаљи о народном посланику: МАРТИЋ, МИРОСЛАВ, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 May 2026.
The alliance between the DS and DSS broke down in early 2008, and a new parliamentary election took place in May of that year. The DS contested the election at the head of an alliance called For a European Serbia (ZES), and Martić appeared in the 116th position on its list.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (1 ЗА ЕВРОПСКУ СРБИЈУ - БОРИС ТАДИЋ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024. The ZES list won 102 seats, and he received a mandate afterward for a fourth term.R. Ognjanović, "U klupama novi poslanici", Novosti, 10 June 2008, accessed 29 June 2022. Although the election did not produce a clear winner, the ZES alliance ultimately formed a coalition government with the Socialist Party of Serbia, and Martić once again served as a government supporter. In his final assembly term, he once again served on the labour committee and the constitutional affairs committee and was a deputy member of the legislative committee and the committee for Kosovo and Metohija, as well as being a member of Serbia's parliamentary friendship groups with Belgium, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, and Spain.МИРОСЛАВ МАРТИЋ, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 May 2026. He was not a candidate in the 2012 parliamentary election.
Electoral record Local (Užice)
Martić was subsequently defeated in a recall election held on 21 May 2006.
Choice Votes % Yes on recall 9,556 54.20 No on recall 8,076 45.80 Total valid votes 17,632 100 Source:Borba, 23 May 2006, p. 4.
References