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Dragoljub Mićunović ( sr-Cyrl, Драгољуб Мићуновић ; born 14 July 1930) is a Serbian politician and philosopher. As one of the founders of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa * Botswana Democratic Party * Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *De ...
, he served as its leader from 1990 to 1994, and as the president of the parliament of Serbia and Montenegro from 2000 to 2004.


Early life

Mićunović was born on 14 July 1930 in
Merdare Merdare ( sr-cyr, Мердаре) is a village located in the municipality of Kuršumlija, Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the village has a population of 151 people. The administrative crossing between Serbia and Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, ...
,
Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...
. He spent his childhood in Skopje where his father Mile worked as a civil servant. Following the annexation of parts of Yugoslavia by the
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional It ...
puppet Albanian Kingdom and Axis Kingdom of Bulgaria, he sought refuge in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia. After World War II, he resumed high school in Kursumlija and Prokuplje. Mićunović was then sentenced to 20 months of forced labour at Goli Otok island by the Yugoslav authorities. After his release, he became an assistant at the University of Belgrade
Faculty of Philosophy A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...
. He was part of the
Marxist humanist Marxist humanism is an international body of thought and political action rooted in an interpretation of the works of Karl Marx. It is an investigation into "what human nature consists of and what sort of society would be most conducive to huma ...
Praxis School The Praxis school was a Marxist humanist philosophical cycle, whose members were influenced by Western Marxism. It originated in Zagreb in the SFR Yugoslavia, during the 1960s. Prominent school's theorists include Gajo Petrović and Milan Kangrg ...
, and in 1975 he was expelled from the faculty, together with seven other colleagues.


Political career

Mićunović was one of the members of the Founding Committee of the Democratic Party in December 1989 who began the process of re-establishing the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa * Botswana Democratic Party * Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *De ...
(DS). He was elected the first President of the re-established Democratic Party at the founding party conference on February 3, 1990. At the first multi-party elections in Serbia in 1990, he was elected a Member of
Parliament of Serbia The National Assembly ( sr-cyr, Народна скупштина, Narodna skupština, ) is the unicameral legislature of Serbia. The assembly is composed of 250 deputies who are proportionally elected to four-year terms by secret ballot. The ...
on behalf of the Democratic Party. As a Member of Parliament on the state level, he was elected a delegate to the Chamber of the Republics and Provinces (upper chamber) of the
Assembly of Yugoslavia The Parliament of Yugoslavia was the legislature of Yugoslavia. Before World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia it was known as the National Assembly (''Narodna skupština''), while in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia the name w ...
in the period 1991-1992. At the Federal elections in 1992, Mićunović was elected a Member of the Federal Assembly as a representative of the Democratic Party. As a member of the opposition coalition “Zajedno”, he was re-elected a Member of Federal Assembly in the Chamber of Citizens (lower chamber) in 1996. He remained the party's president until 1994, when he was squeezed out from the top spot by
Zoran Đinđić Zoran Đinđić ( sr-Cyrl, Зоран Ђинђић, ; 1 August 1952 – 12 March 2003) was a Serbian politician who served as the prime minister of Serbia from 2001 until his assassination in 2003. He was the mayor of Belgrade in 1997. Đinđi� ...
. Mićunović resigned and with a group of prominent intellectuals, founded the Center for Democracy Fund, a non-governmental organization for the development of civil society and the non-governmental sector, civil education and preparation of political and social reforms. In 1996, Dragoljub Mićunović founded a new political party, Democratic Centre, of which he was elected president. At the federal elections in 2000, as one of the leaders of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) coalition, Mićunović was again elected a Member of Parliament in the Chamber of Citizens of the Federal Assembly. After the victory of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia in October 2000, he was elected President of the Chamber of Citizens of the Federal Assembly on November 3, 2000. When the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro was established, in March 2003, Dragoljub Mićunović was elected President of the Parliament of Serbia and Montenegro on March 3 that year. He held this position to March 3, 2004. Mićunović was a candidate at the 2003 Serbian presidential election, winning 35.42% of the popular vote, but the election was canceled due to low turnout (the turnout was 38.8%, considerably less than the 50% of eligible voters threshold required by Serbian law). Dragoljub Mićunović's Democratic Centre party merged into the Democratic Party in 2004, and he was one of the leading candidates on the Democratic Party list in the Serbian Parliamentary elections held on January 21, 2007. Dragoljub Mićunović is the winner of the first award for tolerance awarded by the Ministry for Human Rights, OSCE, and
B92 RTV B92, or simply B92 (stylized as b92, formerly BΞ92 and B 92), is a Serbian news station and broadcaster with national coverage headquartered in Belgrade. Founded in 1989 as radio station, it was a rare outlet for Western news and informati ...
TV and radio station. For his contribution to the admission of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Y ...
to the
Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 46 member states, with a ...
he was presented an award by the European Movement in Serbia. In 2001 he was awarded by the Slovakian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for "active contribution to the work of the Community for democratic change in Yugoslavia which assembled representatives of different political parties, civil society and international organizations". In 2017, Dragoljub Mićunović signed the
Declaration on the Common Language The Declaration on the Common Language ( sh, Deklaracija o zajedničkom jeziku / ) was issued in 2017 by a group of intellectuals and NGOs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia who were working under the banner of a projec ...
of the
Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, ...
, Serbs,
Bosniaks The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...
and
Montenegrins Montenegrins ( cnr, Црногорци, Crnogorci, or ; lit. "Black Mountain People") are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common Montenegrin culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro. Genetics Accordi ...
. In January 2020, he stated his opposition to the boycott of the 2020 parliamentary election.


References


External links


Interview with Mr. Mićunović in English
*Memoirs of Mićunovi�

(in Serbian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Micunovic, Dragoljub 1930 births Living people People from Kuršumlija Democratic Party (Serbia) politicians Democratic Centre (Serbia) politicians Candidates for President of Serbia Members of the National Assembly (Serbia) University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy alumni Serbian democracy activists Serbian humanists Serbian political scientists Yugoslav dissidents Prisoners and detainees of Yugoslavia Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Signatories of the Declaration on the Common Language