Tomislav Nikolić
Tomislav Nikolić (Томислав Николић) (born on February 15, 1952) is a Serbian right-wing politician, the current leader of the Serbian Radical Party (temporary while Vojislav Šešelj is at the ICTY).
Nikolić was born in Kragujevac. He schooled himself for a construction technician, and worked at the construction company Žegrap. He led the construction of the Belgrade-Bar railroad, as well as conducted other works in Majdanpek, Priboj, Prijepolje, Trebinje, Belgrade and elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia. In the company "22. decembar" he headed the investments department for twelve years. For two years he was the technical director ov the communal works in Kragujevac.
In the 1990s, he became a member of the People's Radical Party, which merged with the Serbian Chetnik Movement into the Serbian Radical Party. Nikolić became a member of the new party on January 23, 1991. He was soon elected the party's vice-presidents, and on the last three Congresses of Serbian radicals, he was elected deputy president.
Nikolić has been a deputy in the National Assembly of Serbia since 1991, the only one to be elected continuously since 1991. During the rule of Slobodan Milošević and the Socialist Party of Serbia, he and Vojislav Šešelj were convicted to three months in prison which he served in Gnjilane.
In March 1998, however, the SRS went into coalition with the SPS, and Nikolić became the vice-president of the Government of Serbia, and by the end of 1999 the vice-president of the federal government (of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, now Serbia and Montenegro).
Nikolić ran on the Serbian presidential election, 2000 and won the third place behind Vojislav Koštunica and Slobodan Milošević.
Nikolić was also a presidential candidate in the Serbian presidential election, 2004. In the first round, he won 30.1% of vote. In the second round he won 45.4% of the vote but lost to Boris Tadić.
In 2005, the Serbian media published statements from Nataša Kandić claiming that during the Yugoslav wars Nikolić participated in a paramilitary group that executed several civilians in the Croatian village of Antin north of Vinkovci. Nikolić made it clear that, while he was indeed in Antin, not a single civilian died during that period. The Serbian Radical Party also sued Kandić for libel.
Nikolić has a large following in Serbia. However, he is not without his critics. Most of them come from centrist parties. They perceive him like far righter incapable of any compromise with west or with other centrist parties. He is well now for his robustness that sometimes goes to open insult and swearing at political opponents, some of them proclaimed from dispatch box in parliament. On one occasion, he warned Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic during speech to his supporters that Tito, communist dictator of Serbia, also had problem with his leg before death. This statement was significant because prime minister was assassinated several days after that speech while having to walk with walking stick because of the injury to his leg he sustained while playing football previously. To many that speech was more than just the coincidence. Nikolić however ruled out any connection saying he was profoundly sorry and that he wouldn’t have told that if he had knew what is about to happen. However he refused to withdraw his statement that he was glad that Slavko Ćuruvija, opposition journalist who was shot by unknown gunman during Milošević regime, was killed. Mutual resentment between him and centrist parties is the main reason of him not being in power despite being most popular politician in Serbia at the moment.
Tomislav Nikolić published thirteen books as of 2005, mostly about politics. He and his wife Dragica have two sons, Radomir and Branislav.
