Presidency of Yugoslavia
Title: Presidency of Yugoslavia
Subject: Kosovo War, Serbia and Montenegro, History of Serbia, Brioni Agreement, Breakup of Yugoslavia, Plitvice Lakes incident, Socialist Republic of Croatia, Ten-Day War, Stipe Šuvar, Battle of Borovo Selo
1921 Vidovdan Constitution
1931 Constitution
Deputy Head of State
Presidency (1971-1991)
Federal Executive Council
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
SFR Yugoslavia
SR Bosnia and Herzegovina
SR Croatia
SR Macedonia
SR Montenegro
SR Serbia
SAP Kosovo
SAP Vojvodina
SR Slovenia
War in Slovenia
Croatian War of Independence
Bosnian War
Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbian: Predsedništvo SFRJ, Председништво СФРЈ; Croatian: Predsjedništvo SFRJ; Slovene: Predsedstvo SFRJ; Macedonian: Председателство на СФРЈ) was collective head of state of the Yugoslav federation. It was established in 1971 according to constitutional amendments and reorganized in 1974 by the new constitution. Up to 1974, the Presidency had 23 members - three from each republic, two from each autonomous province and president Josip Broz Tito.[1] In 1974 the Presidency was reduced to 9 members - one representative of each Yugoslav republic and autonomous province and, until 1988, chairman of the Presidium of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia ex officio.
1 Constitutional powers
2 Post-Tito period
3 Personal composition (1971–1991)
Constitutional powers
According to the 1974 Constitution, the Presidency had following powers:[2]
representing the federation both inside and outside the country
commanding the Yugoslav armed forces, deciding on using the army both in war and in peace
protecting equality of Yugoslav nationalities
protecting the constitutional order
proposing a candidate for the federal prime minister
proposing candidates for federal constitutional judges
appointing the ambassadors and generals and admirals
appointing the National Defense Council and, if needed, also other agencies (one of such was Federal Council for Protection of the Constitutional Order)
giving quarters and awarding state decorations
The Presidency had eight members elected by parliaments of each republic and autonomous province and proclaimed by the Federal Assembly of the SFRY, the ninth member was president of the Presidium of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. This ex officio membership of the LCY leader was abolished by the constitutional changes in autumn 1988.[3] The mandate of the Presidency lasted five years so the nine-member Presidency was elected in total four times - in 1974, 1979, 1984 and 1989.
Until 1980 most of powers of the Presidency (and control over the country in general) were in fact exercised by Josip Broz Tito, who was president of the republic for life. After his death in May 1980, his office stayed vacant and the Presidency began to function according to the constitution.
Sometimes, the Presidency held its sessions in an extended composition. Besides the members of the actual Presidency, in such sessions took part following officials: chairman of the Federal Assembly, chairman and vice-chairman of the Federal Executive Council (the government), federal secretaries (ministers) of defense, interior and foreign affairs, chairman of the Federal Conference of the Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia and chairmen of the Presidencies of the Yugoslav republics and autonomous provinces.[4] The extended Presidency wasn't grounded in the Constitution and couldn't itself adopt any decisions.
Post-Tito period
Tito, as a president of the republic, was ex officio chairman of the Presidency. After his death a new chairman of the Presidency was elected every year. The order of rotating of the members on the leading position was agreed in advance, so this annual election was a pure formality. The rotating system jammed only in May 1991 - Stipe Mesić, representative of Franjo Tuđman's new Croatian government in the Presidency, was about to become the chairman but wasn't elected due to opposition of a half of the Presidency controlled by Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević. The top state office of the disintegrating federation remained vacant until 1 July when Mesić was finally elected.[5] [6]
Only one year after Tito's death, Yugoslav leaders had to face violent riots in Kosovo. On 2 April 1981 the Presidency under chairmanship of Cvijetin Mijatović declared a state of emergency in Priština and Kosovska Mitrovica, which lasted one week.[7][8] The Presidency declared the state of emergency again, that time on the whole territory of Kosovo, on 27 February 1989 under chairmanship of Raif Dizdarević, when even more serious disorders in Kosovo broke out.[8][9] For the third time in post-Tito Yugoslavia, the state of emergency in Kosovo was imposed by the Presidency in February 1990.[10]
The composition of the last Presidency elected in May 1989 reflected both approach of political pluralism in some parts of the federation and the beginning agony of Yugoslavia:
Janez Drnovšek from Slovenia and Bogić Bogićević from Bosnia and Herzegovina were elected in direct elections held in their republics[11][12]
representatives of Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Vojvodina, i.e. half of the Presidency, were acting under de facto control of Slobodan Milošević[6][13]
Stipe Šuvar, Croat representative of strongly pro-Yugoslav opinions,[14] was in October 1990 replaced by Stipe Mesić nominated by Croatian government.[15]
In summer 1991 Mesić and Drnovšek, regarding their republics independent, ceased to attend sessions of the Presidency. They were followed by Bogićević and Vasil Tupurkovski from Macedonia, so that the Presidency de facto ceased to exist, although the members from Serbia, her provinces (Kosovo and Vojvodina) and Montenegro continued to hold sessions until 1992.[6]
Personal composition (1971–1991)
Presidency 1971–1974
Term of chairmanship
Josip Broz Tito 1971–1974 President of the republic, president of the LCY
Vidoje Žarković
Veljko Mićunović
Dobrosav Čulafić SR Montenegro
Ilija Rakačić
Replaced by Sreten Kovacević
Maćaš Keleman
Replaced by Mrs. Ida Szabo SAP Vojvodina
Ilijaz Kurteši
Veli Deva SAP Kosovo
Nikola Minčev
Krste Crvenkovski
Kiro Gligorov
Replaced by Lazar Koliševski SR Macedonia
Hamdija Pozderac
Rato Dugonjić
Augustin Papić SR Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sergej Krajgher
Marko Bulc
Mitja Ribičić SR Slovenia
Dragoslav Marković
Dobrivoje Vidić
Replaced by Koča Popović
Dragi Stamenković SR Serbia
Jakov Blažević
Djuro Kladarin
Mika Tripalo
Replaced by Milan Miskević SR Croatia
Josip Broz Tito 15 May 1974 – 15 May 1979 President of the republic, president of the LCY
Vidoje Žarković SR Montenegro
Stevan Doronjski SAP Vojvodina
Fadil Hoxha SAP Kosovo
Lazar Koliševski SR Macedonia
Cvijetin Mijatović SR Bosnia and Herzegovina
Edvard Kardelj1
1979 Sergej Kraigher SR Slovenia
Petar Stambolić SR Serbia
Vladimir Bakarić SR Croatia
Josip Broz Tito1
1980 Stevan Doronjski
1980 Lazar Mojsov
1981 Dušan Dragosavac
1982 Mitja Ribičič
1983 Dragoslav Marković 15 May 1979 – 4 May 1980
President of the republic, president of the LCY
League of Communists of Yugoslavia
Stevan Doronjski1
1981 Radovan Vlajković SAP Vojvodina
Lazar Koliševski 4 May 1980 – 15 May 1980 SR Macedonia
Cvijetin Mijatović 15 May 1980 – 15 May 1981 SR Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sergej Kraigher 15 May 1981 – 15 May 1982 SR Slovenia
Petar Stambolić 15 May 1982 – 15 May 1983 SR Serbia
Vladimir Bakarić1
1983 Mika Špiljak
15 May 1983 – 15 May 1984 SR Croatia
Veselin Đuranović 15 May 1984 – 15 May 1985 SR Montenegro
Radovan Vlajković 15 May 1985 – 15 May 1986 SAP Vojvodina
Sinan Hasani 15 May 1986 – 15 May 1987 SAP Kosovo
Lazar Mojsov 15 May 1987 – 15 May 1988 SR Macedonia
Branko Mikulić2
1986 Hamdija Pozderac3
1987 Raif Dizdarević
15 May 1988 – 15 May 1989 SR Bosnia and Herzegovina
Stane Dolanc SR Slovenia
Nikola Ljubičić SR Serbia
Josip Vrhovec SR Croatia
Ali Shukri
1985 Vidoje Žarković
1986 Milanko Renovica
1987 Boško Krunić
1988 Stipe Šuvar
(until November 1988) League of Communists of Yugoslavia
Nenad Bućin7
1991 Branko Kostić SR Montenegro
Dragutin Zelenović5
1990 Jugoslav Kostić SAP Vojvodina
Riza Sapunxhiu6
1991 Sejdo Bajramović SAP Kosovo
Vasil Tupurkovski SR Macedonia / Republic of Macedonia
Bogić Bogićević SR Bosnia and Herzegovina
Janez Drnovšek 15 May 1989 – 15 May 1990 SR Slovenia / Republic of Slovenia
Borisav Jović 15 May 1990 – 15 May 1991 SR Serbia
Stipe Šuvar4
1990 Stipe Mesić
1 July 1991 – 3 October 1991 SR Croatia / Republic of Croatia
Died while holding the office
Resigned when he became Chairman of the Federal Executive Council
Resigned due to accusation of participation on the Agrokomerc scandal
Recalled by the Croatian Parliament
Recalled by the Serbian Parliament
Recalled by the Montenegrin Parliament
List of heads of state of Yugoslavia
Prime Minister of Yugoslavia
Nato, Albania, United Kingdom, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, United Nations
Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Podgorica, Belgrade
History of Serbia
Serbia, Ottoman Empire, Kosovo, Vojvodina, Belgrade
Brioni Agreement
Slovenia, Croatia, Croatian War of Independence, Yugoslav People's Army, Yugoslav Wars
Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo