Miroslav Aleksić (born 1978)

Aleksić began his political career as a member of the United Regions of Serbia, serving as president of its Trstenik board in the early 2010s. He appeared in the lead position on the party's electoral list for the Trstenik municipal assembly in the 2012 Serbian local elections and was elected when the list won a plurality victory with eighteen out of forty-nine mandates.[5] After the election, the URS formed a local coalition government with the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), New Serbia (NS), the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), and the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS).[6] Aleksić was chosen as president of the municipality (i.e., mayor) and served in this role for the next four years.[7] He issued a declaration in 2013 that genetically modified food would not be produced in the municipality, and he opposed nickel mining in the area on the grounds that it would jeopardize several local villages.[8][9]

Aleksić became a prominent URS spokesperson at the republic level early in his mayoralty.[10] He was given the eleventh position on the party's list in the 2014 Serbian parliamentary election; the list did not cross the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly.[11] The URS's organization largely became dormant after the election, and Aleksić left the party later in the year to become acting president of a breakaway group originally called the People's Party of Serbia (NSS).[12][13][14] The group formally constituted itself as the People's Movement of Serbia in January 2015, and Aleksić was chosen as its leader in February.[15][16][17]

The New Democratic Party (NDS) joined Trstenik's governing coalition in mid-2014, continuing their affiliation after being renamed as the Social Democratic Party (SDS) later in the year.[18] The Progressives, facing serious local divisions, left the coalition in June 2015.[19]

The People's Movement of Serbia formed a political alliance with SDS in early 2016, and the party formally contested the that year's local elections in Trstenik under the SDS's banner. The NPS/SDS list narrowly lost the election to an alliance headed by the Progressive Party; the Progressives formed a new administration after the election with the Socialists and the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), and Aleksić's term as mayor came to an end.[20] He served as an opposition member of the local assembly for the term that followed.[21]

The Social Democratic Party contested the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election on a coalition list with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV). Some of the SDS's list positions were reserved for NPS candidates. Aleksić, as the NPS's leader, was given the eighth position and was elected when the list won thirteen mandates; he was the only member of his party to win a mandate.[22] The Progressive Party and its allies won the election, and Aleksić served afterward in opposition. He was chosen as deputy leader of the SDS–NPS parliamentary group, which had five members in total.[23]

During his first term in parliament, Aleksić was a member of the agriculture, forestry, and water management committee; a deputy member of the committees on Kosovo and Metohija and the rights of the child; and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Austria, Belarus, China, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the United States of America.[24]

In October 2017, he permitted the People's Movement of Serbia to be re-registered as the People's Party under Vuk Jeremić's leadership, thereby allowing the party to bypass Serbia's registration process for new parties.[25] Aleksić was chosen as a vice-president of the reconstituted party at its founding convention in the same month.[26]

Along with several other opposition parties, the People's Party began a policy of non-participation with state institutions, including the national assembly, in 2019 and ultimately boycotted the 2020 parliamentary election and the concurrent 2020 local elections. Aleksić was one of the most prominent figures in calling for a total election boycott in all jurisdictions and at all levels of government.[27] He was also vocal in accusing Aleksandar Vučić and Serbia's SNS-led administration of involvement with criminal networks in the country.[28]

Serbia's opposition groups ended their boycott of the electoral process in 2022. Aleksić appeared in the third position on the coalition United for the Victory of Serbia list in the 2022 parliamentary election and was re-elected when the list won thirty-eight seats.[29] The SNS and its allies won the election, and Aleksić now leads the People's Party assembly group in opposition. He is a member of the defence and internal affairs committee; a member of the committee on finance, state budget, and control of public spending; a member of the agriculture, forestry, and water management committee; a member of the committee on administration, budgetary, mandate, and immunity issues; a deputy member of the committee on the economy, regional development, trade, tourism, and energy; and a member of the European Union–Serbia stabilization and association committee.[30]

In May 2023 he took part in the mass Serbia Against Violence protests, which were triggered after the Belgrade school shooting and Mladenovac and Smederevo shootings.[31]

Aleksić is against the recognition of independence of Kosovo, criticizing Aleksandar Vučić's policies on Kosovo.[32][33] He voiced his opposition to the Agreement on the path to normalisation between Kosovo and Serbia, claiming that Serbia is "not getting fast-track EU membership or anything" in return.[34]

In November 2022, Aleksić called on the European Union to be "just as vocal on issues important to the lives of Serbian citizens, such as the fight against crime and corruption and freedom of the media, as it is when it points to the need to harmonize Serbia's foreign and security policy with the EU".[35]