Željko Ožegović () is ŽeljkoOžegovića politician in Serbia. He was the mayor of New Belgrade (a municipality in the City of Belgrade) from 2000 to 2008 and later served in the executive branches of both the Serbian government and the City of Belgrade government. He was also briefly a member of the National Assembly of Serbia in 2002. During his time as an elected official, Ožegović was a member of the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS).
Early life and career
Ožegović was born in Belgrade, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics and worked in the private sector before entering political life.
Politician
Mayor of New Belgrade and parliamentarian
Ožegović entered political life as a member of the DS. He was elected to the New Belgrade municipal assembly in the 1996 Serbian local elections as a candidate of the Zajedno (English: Together) alliance, a coalition of parties opposed to the authoritarian rule of Slobodan Milošević. Zajedno won the election for the City Assembly of Belgrade, but their victory was not initially recognized by the authorities; Ožegović, who was not elected to the city assembly in this cycle, took part in protests against the Milošević government and was arrested on two occasions. Milošević's Socialist Party of Serbia ultimately formed a new coalition government in New Belgrade following the election, and Ožegović served in opposition in the term that followed.
The DS participated in the 2000 Serbian local elections as a part of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) coalition, which won landslide victories in both the city of Belgrade and the municipality of New Belgrade. Ožegović was re-elected to the New Belgrade assembly and also elected to the Belgrade city assembly as a DOS candidate. He was chosen as president of the municipal assembly in New Belgrade after the election; at the time, this position was equivalent to mayor. In 2001, Transparency International recognized New Belgrade as having the "best new municipal leadership".
The 2000 local elections were held concurrently with the 2000 Yugoslavian general election, which brought about the downfall of the Milošević administration. Serbia subsequently held a new parliamentary election in December 2000, and Ožegović appeared in the 167th position out of 250 on the DOS's electoral list. The DOS won a landslide victory in this election with 176 seats; Ožegović was not, however, initially given a mandate when the assembly met in January 2001. (From 2000 to 2011, mandates in Serbian parliamentary elections were assigned to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties and coalitions, irrespective of numerical order. Ožegović did not automatically receive a mandate by virtue of his list position.)
Several members of the national assembly voluntarily resigned or were deprived of their mandates on 12 June 2002, amid the backdrop of serious divisions between the DOS and the Democratic Party of Serbia (Demokratska stranka Sribje, DSS). Ožegović was awarded a mandate as the replacement for another member and served, in this capacity, as part of the administration's parliamentary majority. The resignations and expulsions of 12 June 2002 were later overturned on a technicality; the delegates who left the assembly on that day had their mandates restored, and the mandates of the replacements were revoked. Ožegović later appeared on the DS's lists in the 2003, 2007 and 2008 parliamentary elections, although he was not awarded a mandate on any of these occasions.
Serbia introduced proportional representation for local elections in 2004 and also separated the positions of the mayor and assembly president. The DS fielded its own lists in the 2004 Serbian local elections. Ožegović led the DS"s list in New Belgrade and was re-elected when the list won a plurality victory with twenty-eight out of sixty-seven seats. He also received the seventh position on the DS's list in Belgrade and was re-elected when the list won thirty-four seats. He was confirmed for a second term as mayor of New Belgrade following the election.