Nada Kostić

Nada Kostić (Serbian Cyrillic: Нада Костић; born 17 May 1956) is a medical doctor, academic, and politician in Serbia. She briefly served as Serbia's minister of health in the transitional government that was established after the fall of Slobodan Miloševic's administration in 2000. Kostić was awarded a mandate for the National Assembly of Serbia on 17 April 2018. She is a member of the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS) but serves in parliament as an independent deputy.

Nada Kostić
Born	17 May 1956 Belgrade, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Serbian
Occupation	Doctor, politician

Early life and private career

Kostić was born in Belgrade, at the time located in the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. She is a graduate of the University of Belgrade, having studied at its faculty of medicine and faculty of philosophy (department of clinical psychology). She received a master's degree in 1989 and a Ph.D. in 1993. Kostić is a professor at the university's faculty of medicine and director of the internal medicine clinic at the Dedinje Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases.[1]

Political career

Early political career

Kostić joined the Democratic Party of Serbia (Demokratska stranka Srbije, DSS) on its formation in 1992.[2] The party contested the 1992 Serbian parliamentary election as part of the Democratic Movement of Serbia (DEPOS) alliance, and Kostić received the twenty-fourth position on its electoral list in Belgrade.[3] The party won fifteen seats in the city, and she was not afterwards selected as part of its parliamentary delegation.[4] (From 1992 to 2000, Serbia's electoral law stipulated that one-third of parliamentary mandates would be assigned to candidates from successful lists in numerical order, while the remaining two-thirds would be distributed amongst other candidates on the lists by the sponsoring parties.[5] It was common practice for the latter mandates to be awarded out of numerical order. Kostić could have been awarded a mandate despite her relatively low position on the list, although in the event she was not.)

The DSS contested the 1993 Serbian parliamentary election on its own. Kostić received the sixth position on its electoral list in Belgrade.[6] The party won four seats in the city, and she was once again not selected for its delegation.[7]

Serbian cabinet minister

After the fall of Slobodan Milošević's administration in October 2000, Serbia was governed by a coalition of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), and the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) until new elections could be called and a new government formed. The DOS was itself a coalition of several opposition parties, including the DSS. The party received the ministry of health in the new coalition government, and Kostić was appointed as minister on October 24, 2000.[8]

In January 2001, Kostić indicated that the ministry of health would appoint a commission of scientists and doctors to monitor the possible long-term effects on the Serbian population of depleted uranium munitions fired by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces in the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. She added that "there [was] no reason for panic" in the matter, and her ministry indicated that there was no evidence of immediate danger.[9]

The Democratic Opposition of Serbia won a landslide victory in the 2000 Serbian parliamentary election. After the election, the Democratic Party of Serbia nominated Obren Joksimović to replace Kostić as health minister. Joksimović's nomination was criticized by many in the health sector; a group of doctors in Požarevac referred to him as unsuited for the role while describing Kostić as "the kind of person whose professional and ethical qualities fully suit a ministerial role, something that she has demonstrated in the work in the Serbian interim government and in her public appearances so far."[10] This notwithstanding, Joksimović's nomination went through and Kostić stood down from the ministry on January 25, 2001. She resigned from the Democratic Party of Serbia on the same day.[11]

September–October 2002 Serbian presidential election

Kostić joined the political group of the Christian Democratic Party of Serbia in November 2001 and was their candidate for president of Serbia in the September–October 2002 Serbian presidential election.[12][13] Her slogan was "Nada for Serbia" (the word "Nada" means "hope" in Serbian).[14] She withdrew from the election prior to the vote, when the party decided to back the candidacy of Miroljub Labus.[15]

It's Enough – Restart and election to the National Assembly

Kostić was elected to the local assembly of Belgrade's Stari Grad municipality in 2016.[16]

She received the eighteenth position on the electoral list of the It's Enough – Restart (Dosta je bilo, DJB) association in the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election. The list won sixteen mandates, and she was not immediately elected to the assembly.[17]

Kostić left DJB shortly after the 2016 election, citing differences with the association's leadership.[18] She appeared in the twelfth position on the electoral list of Nikola Sandulović's Republican Party in the 2018 Belgrade city assembly election, although she later said that she had been included on the list without her permission. The party did not, in any event, win any mandates.[19]

In March 2018, DJB delegate Miloš Bošković announced his resignation from the assembly, and Kostić was the next candidate eligible to take a mandate. The newspaper Danas reported that she was once again ready to serve with the DJB group in the assembly despite her past disagreements with the organization.[20][21] This notwithstanding, she choose to sit as an independent member after receiving a mandate on April 17. She also indicated that she had joined the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka; DS) after leaving DJB two years earlier; when asked why she did not join the DS group in the assembly, she responded that it would not be appropriate for her to do so as she had been elected on a different list.[22][23]

References

1. Prof. dr Nada Kostić, endokrinolog, medicina.rs, 7 September 2017, accessed 6 April 2018.
2. Branka Kaljević, "Bitka za ministra zdravlja", Vreme, 18 January 2001, accessed 6 April 2018.
3. ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (1 Београд) Archived 2018-07-20 at the Wayback Machine, Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 20. и 27. децембра 1992. године и 3. јануара 1993. године, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 1 March 2017.
4. Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 20. и 27. децембра 1992. године и 3. јануара 1993. године Archived 2018-07-20 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 5 April 2017.
5. Guide to the Early Election, Ministry of Information of the Republic of Serbia, December 1992, made available by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, accessed 14 July 2017.
6. ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (1 Београд) Archived 2018-07-20 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 7 April 2017.
7. Публикација Републичког завода за статистику о резултатима избора за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржаних 1993. године Archived 2018-07-20 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 6 April 2018.
8. "List of Serbia's transitional government," Reuters News, 24 October 2000.
9. "Population of Serbia not in danger from NATO uranium: scientists," Agence France-Presse, 10 January 2001.
10. "Hospital workers protest against health minister nomination," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 17 January 2001 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 0954 gmt 17 Jan 01). See also Branka Kaljević, "Bitka za ministra zdravlja", Vreme, 18 January 2001, accessed 6 April 2018.
11. "Former Serbian health minister leaves Yugoslav president's party," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 27 January 2001.
12. "NADA KOSTIC CLAN POLITICKOG SAVETA DHSS", B92, 1 December 2001, accessed 3 July 2018.
13. "Nada Kostic kandidat DHSS", B92, 28 July 2002, accessed 3 July 2018.
14. "Serbian Christian Democrats nominate their presidential candidate," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 28 July 2002.
15. "Serbia's DHSS withdraws candidate for president," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 20 August 2002 (Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in English 1305 gmt 20 Aug 02).
16. ОДБОРНИЦИ СКУПШТИНЕ ГРАДСКЕ ОПШТИНЕ СТАРИ ГРАД, Municipality of Stari Grad (2016), accessed 6 April 2018.
17. Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (ДОСТА ЈЕ БИЛО – САША РАДУЛОВИЋ) Archived 2018-04-27 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 18 March 2017.
18. Kostić's explanation for this development can be found at "Nada Kostić: Nisam napustila DJB", Danas, 21 May 2016, accessed 6 April 2018.
19. Izborne liste, City of Belgrade, accessed 6 April 2018.
20. Miloš D. Miljković, "Kostić: Spremna sam da budem poslanica DJB-a", Danas, 17 March 2018, accessed 6 April 2018.
21. Mirjana R. Milenković, "Iz parlamenta gotovo nestao Saša Radulović", Danas, 4 April 2018, accessed 6 April 2018.
22. "Nada Kostić, član DS-a, ali samostalni poslanik", Danas, 26 April 2018, accessed 28 April 2018.
23. Додела мандата (Одлука о додели мандата народног посланика ради попуне упражњених посланичких места у Народној скупштини од 17. априла 2018. године) Archived 2018-06-12 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 28 April 2018.