Boris Tadić

Борис Тадић Boris Tadić President of Serbia Date of Birth: 15 January, 1958 Place of Birth: Sarajevo, SFRY Profession: Professor of Social Psychology Term of Office: 11 July, 2004 - Predecessor (interim): Predrag Marković Predecessor (elected): Milan Milutinović Political Party: Democratic Party

Boris Tadić listen^ⓘ (Борис Тадић) (born 15 January, 1958) is the President of Serbia, one of two constituent republics in Serbia and Montenegro. A psychologist by profession, he is a long-time member of the Democratic Party.

Early life

Boris Tadić is the son of Ljuba Tadić, a philosopher. He was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. His grandparents were killed during World War II, by Ustashas in the Independent State of Croatia, because of their Serbian origin, and are considered victims of Holocaust.

He attended elementary and high school in Belgrade and graduated in Social Psychology at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy. He taught psychology at the First Belgrade Gymnasium.

He founded and was the first Director of the "Centre for the Development of Democracy and Political Skills".

Political career

Tadić has been a member of the Democratic Party since 1990, performing several roles within the party: Secretary of the General Committee, Vice-President of the Executive Board, Acting President of the Executive Board, Twice elected Vice-President of the Democratic Party.

In 2002 he became Minister of Telecommunications in the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; later he was Minister of Defence in the Council of Ministers of Serbia and Montenegro.

In 2003 he was elected as a Representative to the Assembly of Serbia and Montenegro and became Acting Head of the Group of Democratic Party Representatives. In 2004 he was elected as a Head-Representative of his party to the National Assembly of Serbia. Later in this year, he was elected President of Democratic Party, one year after the assassination of the former party president, Zoran Đinđić.

In the first round of the Serbian presidential election, 2004 he won 27.3% of the vote. In the second round, on 27 June, 2004, he defeated Tomislav Nikolić with 53.24% of the vote.

Presidency

He was officially sworn in as the president at a ceremony in Belgrade on 11 July, 2004.

On 1 December, 2004, Tadić’s presidential motorcade was involved in a traffic accident. Miroslav Cimpl, a Serbian employee of the US Embassy refused to make way for the motorcade and crashed repeatedly into the vehicles in it, though the president’s car was not affected. The employee managed to flee, but after reporting the incident to his employer, the US Embassy, he was subsequently arrested.

Boris Tadić

This incident petrified the general public because it evoked memories of a failed attempt at assassinating Zoran Đinđić in February 2003, when a truck driven by Zemun clan member Dejan Milenković (aka Bagzi) crashed into Đinđić's motorcade on an open highway. Many at first believed this second incident to be an attempt to assassinate Tadić, but a subsequent police investigation found no evidence to support this claim.

Minister of Police Dragan Jočić said during a press conference that Cimpl got confused when he saw the flashing lights of the motorcade and did not know what to do. The police concluded that it was only a traffic accident and that there was no intention to harm the President. Cimpl stayed in jail for two weeks, before being released (see (Halifax), (B92)).

Tadić is the first Serbian head of state that has met officially with the Pope. This happened during his official trip to Vatican on 28 September, 2005, where he met Pope Benedict XVI.

Personal life

Besides his native language, Tadić also speaks English and French. He is married and the father of two children.

External links

• National Office of the President
• Official Presidential Campaign Website
• Democratic Party Website