Milan Lapčević

Milan Lapčević in 2018

Milan Lapčević (Serbian Cyrillic: Милан Лапчевић; born 8 October 1969) is a politician in Serbia. He has served three terms in the National Assembly of Serbia, most recently from 2016 to 2020. Formerly a member of the Democratic Party of Serbia (Demokratska stranka Srbije, DSS), Lapčević has been an independent politician since 2018.

Private life

Lapčević is a graduated mechanical engineer living in Niš. In 2015–16, he led a hiking expedition through Albania and Greece to commemorate the centenary of the Serbian army's retreat through Albania during World War I.[1][2]

Politician

Municipal and regional politics

Lapčević served on the executive board of Niš's city government from 2000 to 2004 and was the administrator for Serbia's Nišava District from 2004 to 2008.[3] In May 2004, he introduced an anti-corruption program focused on border crossings between Serbia and Bulgaria.[4] He ran for mayor of Palilula, Niš in the 2004 Serbian local elections and finished third.

He returned to the Niš city assembly following the 2008 Serbian local elections and led the DSS group in the assembly.[5] He subsequently appeared in the lead position on the party's electoral list in the 2012 local elections and was re-elected when the list won four mandates.[6][7] He did not seek re-election at the local level in 2016.

Parliamentarian

Lapčević received the 133rd position on the DSS's list in the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election.[8] The party won fifty-three seats, and he was not included in its assembly delegation. (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.[9] Lapčević could have been chosen to serve in the assembly despite his relatively low position, but he was not.) He received the 118th position on a combined DSS–New Serbia list for the 2007 parliamentary election and was once again not selected for an assembly mandate.[10]

He was promoted to the forty-first position on the DSS–New Serbia list for the 2008 parliamentary election[11] and, this time, was chosen to serve in his party's delegation after the list won thirty seats.[12] The DSS, which had been in government before the election, moved into opposition when a new coalition government was formed under the rival Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka).

Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that parliamentary mandates were assigned in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. Lapčević received the nineteenth position on the DSS's list in the 2012 election and was re-elected when the list won twenty-one mandates.[13] The Serbian Progressive Party and the Socialist Party of Serbia formed a new coalition government after the election, and the DSS remained in opposition. Lapčević received the sixteenth position on the DSS's list in the 2014 election, in which the party did not cross the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly.[14]

Lapčević became a vice-president of the DSS in 2015.[15] He took part in a delegation of DSS and Dveri members to the Republic of Crimea in October of the same year, following the disputed area's de facto joining of the Russian Federation.[16]

The DSS contested the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election on a combined list with Dveri. Lapčević received the tenth position on the list and was elected for a third term when the list won thirteen mandates.[17] The DSS continued to serve in opposition.

The DSS experienced a serious split in November 2016, after which Lapčević, Gorica Gajić, and Dejan Šulkić were the only assembly members to remain with the party. As four members are needed to form a parliamentary group, they served in the assembly as independents.[18] Lapčević left the DSS on 11 April 2018.[19] In June 2020, he said that he had tried to create an informal group of parliamentarians from southern Serbia, without success.[20]

During the 2016–20 parliament, Lapčević was deputy chair of the parliamentary committee on finance, state budget, and control of public spending; a deputy member of the culture and information committee and the committee on constitutional and legislative issues; a member of the subcommittee for the consideration of reports on audits conducted by the state audit institution; a deputy member of Serbia's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA); and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Italy, Kazakhstan, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, and Switzerland.[21] He was not a candidate for re-election in 2020.

Electoral record

Local (City of Niš)

2004 City of Niš local election: Mayor of Palilula

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Miroslav Đorđević	Serbian Renewal Movement (endorsed by Democratic Party–Boris Tadić)[22]	3,390	26.00	7,438	51.30
	Milosav Lukić	Serbian Radical Party–Tomislav Nikolić[23]	2,250	17.26	7,060	48.70
	Milan Lapčević	Democratic Party of Serbia–Vojislav Koštunica	1,583	12.14
	Milica Marković	information missing	1,538	11.80
	Aleksandar Milićević	G17 Plus[24]	1,353	10.38
	Miloš Stojković	information missing	858	6.58
	Velibor Petrović	Political Organization for Democratic Change "New Serbia"–Velimir Ilić[25]	801	6.14
	Miodrag Stanković	Citizens' Group: Coalition for Niš–Miodrag Stanković[26]	695	5.33
	Miodrag Mitić	Strength of Serbia Movement–Bogoljub Karić[27]	334	2.56
	Miodrag Mladenović	Democratic Alternative–Social Democratic Party–Dr. Nebojša Čović[28]	234	1.80
Total			13,036	100.00	14,498	100.00
Source: [29][30]

References

1. "Milan Lapčević", Južne Vesti, 20 December 2015, accessed 29 October 2017.
2. "They have crossed "Albanian Golgotha" like the Serbian army did 100 years ago", SBS, 8 February 2016, accessed 29 October 2017.
3. "Milan Lapčević", Južne Vesti, 20 December 2015, accessed 29 October 2017.
4. "Programme of Serbian Nis-based City Radio news 1400 gmt 19 May 04," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 19 May 2004 (Source: City Radio, Nis, in Serbian 1400 gmt 19 May 04).
5. Скупштина града Archived 2011-09-02 at the Wayback Machine, City of Niš, accessed 22 July 2020.
6. РЕШЕЊЕ О УТВРЂИВАЊУ ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ ЗА ИЗБОР ОДБОРНИКА СКУПШТИНЕ ГРАДА НИША 06. МАЈ 2012. ГОДИНЕ, City Election Commission - Izbori 2016, City of Niš, p. 2.
7. Predrag Blagojević, "Proglašeni konačni rezultati izbora za Niš", Jużne vesti, 14 May 2012, accessed 3 February 2021.
8. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ДЕМОКРАТСКА СТРАНКА СРБИЈЕ - ВОЈИСЛАВ КОШТУНИЦА) Archived 2017-07-26 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 28 April 2017.
9. Serbia's Law on the Election of Representatives (2000) stipulated that parliamentary mandates would be awarded to electoral lists (Article 80) that crossed the electoral threshold (Article 81), that mandates would be given to candidates appearing on the relevant lists (Article 83), and that the submitters of the lists were responsible for selecting their parliamentary delegations within ten days of the final results being published (Article 84). See Law on the Election of Representatives, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 35/2000, made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 28 February 2017.
10. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Демократска странка Србије - Нова Србија - др Војислав Коштуница) Archived 2018-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 April 2017.
11. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Демократска Странка Србије - Нова Србија - Војислав Коштуница) Archived 2018-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 April 2017.
12. 11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 29 October 2017.
13. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ДЕМОКРАТСКА СТРАНКА СРБИЈЕ - ВОЈИСЛАВ КОШТУНИЦА) Archived 2018-07-24 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 28 April 2017.
14. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Демократска странка Србије - Војислав Коштуница) Archived 2018-05-06 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 28 April 2017.
15. "Milan Lapčević", Južne Vesti, 20 December 2015, accessed 29 October 2017.
16. "Members of Serbian parliament to meet with Crimean Prime Minister, legislature speaker," ITAR-TASS News Service, 26 October 2015. This article inaccurately describes Lapčević as a member of the Democratic Party and as an active member of the assembly.
17. Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (ДВЕРИ - ДЕМОКРАТСКА СТРАНКА СРБИЈЕ - САНДА РАШКОВИЋ ИВИЋ - БОШКО ОБРАДОВИЋ) Archived 2018-04-27 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 28 April 2017.
18. M. R. Milenković, "Ujedinjenjem do veće minutaže", Danas, 7 November 2016, accessed 28 April 2017.
19. "Poslanik Milan Lapčević napustio DSS" Archived 2018-04-27 at the Wayback Machine, N1, 11 April 2018, accessed 18 April 2018.
20. M. Zirojević, "10 godina Proaktiva: dodeljene nagrade poslanicima sa juga, zaključeno da izborni zakon mora da se menja", Jużne vesti, 27 June 2020, accessed 3 February 2021.
21. MILAN LAPCEVIC, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 26 June 2020.
22. "Prelazak u G17 plus?", Danas, 28 November 2007, accessed 3 January 2022.
23. "Još im samo sale fale", Glas javnosti, 21 October 2005, accessed 3 January 2022.
24. "Većnici čekaju gradonačelnika", Glas javnosti, 14 December 2004, accessed 3 January 20211.
25. ЛОКАЛНИ ИЗБОРИ 2004 (Листа кандидата за одборнике СГ Ниш: Политичка организација за демократске промене "Нова Србија" - Велимир Илић), "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2004-11-22. Retrieved 2021-12-24., City of Niš, 22 November 2004, accessed 3 January 2022.
26. ЛОКАЛНИ ИЗБОРИ 2004 (ЛИСТЕ КАНДИДАТА ЗА ВЕЋНИКЕ ГРАДСКЕ ОПШТИНЕ ПАЛИЛУЛА), "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2004-11-22. Retrieved 2021-12-24., City of Niš, 22 November 2004, accessed 23 December 2021.
27. "Politička kriza u Nišu", Južne vesti, 29 June 2010, accessed 3 January 2022.
28. ЛОКАЛНИ ИЗБОРИ 2004 (ЛИСТЕ КАНДИДАТА ЗА ВЕЋНИКЕ ГРАДСКЕ ОПШТИНЕ ПАЛИЛУЛА), "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2004-11-22. Retrieved 2021-12-24., City of Niš, 22 November 2004, accessed 23 December 2021.
29. ЛОКАЛНИ ИЗБОРИ 2004, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2004-11-22. Retrieved 2021-12-24., City of Niš, 22 November 2004, accessed 23 December 2021; ЛОКАЛНИ ИЗБОРИ: Председници општина и градова, изабрани на локалним изборима, 2004., "REPUBLICKI ZAVOD ZA STATISTIKU - Republike Srbije". Archived from the original on 2010-10-03. Retrieved 2022-05-25., Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 3 October 2010, accessed 12 July 2021.
30. The first-round totals are likely provisional.