Šerif Hamzagić

Hamzagić was born in Tutin, in the Sandžak region of what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. His nineteenth-century ancestors were the founders of the community; a travelogue written in 1868 noted that there were seven houses in Tutin, six of which belonged to members of the Hamzagić family.

Hamzagić graduated from the University of Pristina Faculty of Medicine and began working at Tutin's Health Center in 1982, eventually becoming its director. In 1990, he completed his specialization in internal medicine in Belgrade.[1][2]

In 2012, Hamzagić co-authored a historical monograph entitled, Tutin: Od mahale do šehera.[3]

Hamzagić was a member of Izudin Šušević's Reform Democratic Party of Sandžak in the 1990s.[4] He appeared in the third position on the party's electoral list for the Kragujevac division in the 1993 Serbian parliamentary election; the list did not cross the electoral threshold for assembly representation.[5]

He later joined G17 Plus and received the 238th position on the party's list for the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election.[6] The list won thirty-four seats, and he did not receive a mandate. (From 2000 to 2011, Serbian parliamentary mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for mandates to be assigned out of numerical order.[7] Hamzagić's position on the list – which was in any event mostly alphabetical – had no specific bearing on his chances of election.)[8]

Serbia introduced the direct election of mayors in the 2004 Serbian local elections. Hamzagić ran for mayor of Tutin and finished third. He was elected to the municipal assembly when G17 Plus won two seats, although he resigned before the four-year term expired.[9][10] He later appeared in the 236th position on G17 Plus's list in the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election and was not given a mandate when the list won nineteen seats.[11]