Zoran Živković (politician)

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This article is about Zoran Živković the politician. For other persons with this name, see Zoran Živković.

Zoran Živković (Serbian: Зоран Живковић) is a former Prime Minister of Serbia who replaced assassinated Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić in March 2003. He was born on December 22, 1960 in Niš where he finished high-school. Živković received a college diploma in Economics in Belgrade and worked as entrepreneur before engaging into politics. He is married and has two children.

[edit] Political life

Zoran Živković ventured into politics in 1992 by joining the Democratic Party and became a Member of Serbian Parliament and a party deputy leader. In late 1996 Živković lead the civil protests of the opposition against the electoral fraud and became a first democratic mayor of Niš in 1997. In 2000 Živković contributed greatly to the mobilization of the democratic opposition of Serbia in removal of Slobodan Milošević from power. Shortly after he became a federal Minister of Interior of FR Yugoslavia until 2003 and the constitutional formation of State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. After the assassination of Zoran Đinđić he decisively lead the reformist government through the state of martial law and offensive on cracking down crime and corruption, but suffering blows under controversial arrests, government scandals, and unrest within the coalition. Weakening public support saw Živković stepping down from the Democratic Party leadership before the Parliamentary elections in Serbia in 2004, allowing Boris Tadić to emerge as a new leader.

After 11 months of his term in the government of Serbia, Živković left the party politics and formed a Non governmental organisation "Center for Development of Civil Society - Milenijum" as a wish to "modify the consciousness of Serbian citizens related to the need of involving each individual into ongoing process of changes". He is often linked to another Democratic Party dissident Čedomir Jovanović although there are no clear connections between the two. Regarding his involvement with the Democratic Party Živković claims that today he is "only a member" in spite of some views who see his potential comeback to the party executive board.

Živković is still present in public life and makes occasional appearances in political talk-shows, commenting on his past days with Zoran Đinđić and criticizing the lack of reformist agenda in the government of Vojislav Koštunica. In personal life, he is also an avid wine enthusiast and a passionate driver.