Čedomir "Čeda" Jovanović (,ČedomirJovanović ; born 13 April 1971) is a Serbian politician and businessman.
During the presidency of Slobodan Milošević in Yugoslavia, Jovanović became one of the student leaders of the 1996–1997 protests in Serbia at the age of 25. Jovanović along with fellow student Čedomir Antić were one of the founding members of the "Student Political Club", abbreviated in Serbian as SPK, which successfully organized a massive boycott of the 1997 Serbian general election. In February 1998, the bulk of the SPK membership along with Jovanović himself joined the Democratic Party.
After the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević, Jovanović was selected by the Democratic Opposition of Serbia to be one of its MPs, and he subsequently became the youngest parliamentary caucus leader in Serbian history, at the age of 29. In the post-Milošević period, he was a target of several assassination attempts and attacks. On February 6, 2001, an explosive device destroyed Jovanović's automobile. On March 31, 2001, he was left unscathed from a minor shooting incident at the scene of Milošević's arrest, during which he was a negotiator. In July 2002, Minister of Interior Dušan Mihajlović commented that "Jovanović was on all the hit lists" of "centers of power".
Jovanović was expelled from the Democratic Party in 2004 due to breaking party protocols. He subsequently founded his own political party in November 2005, called the Liberal Democratic Party. He was his party's candidate in Serbia's presidential elections in 2008 and 2012.
Early life
Jovanović was born in a middle-class family in Belgrade. His parents Jovica and Milena (née Mršić) Jovanović were both economists by profession. As a boy, he grew up in the New Belgrade neighborhood and completed the Ivan Gundulić Primary School with average grades. Afterwards, he started attending the Ninth Belgrade Gymnasium, but soon after transferred to the Third Economics High School, from which he eventually graduated. He then enrolled at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Economics, but after only a week of classes, decided to quit.
Jovanović served in the Yugoslav People's Army in 1992 in Gradiška during the Bosnian War. In one of his memoirs, Čedomir Antić wrote that Jovanović was once proud of his military career in the Bosnian War, but that he experienced an ideological change about the war years later.
Jovanović eventually started attending Belgrade's Arts University's Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDU), enrolling in its dramaturgy program, from which he graduated in 1998 at the age of 27. He never actually worked in his chosen profession, writing only a couple of plays that were never staged or published.
Activism
Jovanović was one of the student leaders of student protests in Belgrade during the winter of 1996–1997. The leaders of the demonstrations mostly composed of the membership of the SPK, an abbreviation for the Serbian Political Club. During the three months of demonstrations, Jovanović, Čedomir Antić, and other SPK members were unwittingly followed and tracked by the State Security Service. Throughout the winter of 1996–1997, violent clashes with the state police and military occurred on multiple occasions. As a result of the clashes Jovanović was one of five representatives of the protest movement which met with General Momčilo Perišić and Internal Affairs Minister Zoran Sokolović. General Perišić told Jovanović that both the military and students "are above politics", and claimed to sympathize with the protest movement. However, the meeting with Minister Sokolović was far more tense, as Sokolović largely stonewalled Jovanović on the question of a protester named Predrag Starčević, who was killed on December 24, 1996.
After the protests died out in early 1997, Jovanović intended on quitting political activity for good. However, in a series of SPK meetings, Jovanović and Čedomir Antić debated on the future of the SPK, with Jovanović arguing that the SPK should join the Democratic Party. Antić eventually agreed, however the SPK virtually ceased to exist as a result, with many members dropping out when SPK joined the Democratic Party. Three SPK members ended up joining the Democratic Party of Serbia, which years later would be involved in an intense schism with the rest of the DOS coalition.
Political career
Democratic Opposition of Serbia
He was elected to the Serbian Parliament in the December 23, 2000, parliamentary elections, on the list of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), and also held the post of DOS' parliamentary caucus leader until 2003. At only 29, he was the youngest person ever in Serbian politics to hold such a position.