Marko Đurišić (; born 2 November 1968) is a Serbian politician. He has served several terms in the National Assembly of Serbia, originally as a member of the Democratic Party (DS) and later with the breakaway Social Democratic Party (SDS). In 2020, he left the SDS and was a leading figure in the short-lived party Serbia 21.
Early life and career Đurišić was born in Belgrade, in what was then the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He is an information technology engineer.MARKO DJURISIC, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 18 September 2022.
Politician Democratic Party Member of the Belgrade city assembly (1997–2004) The DS contested the 1996 Serbian local elections as part of the Together (Zajedno) coalition with the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) and the Civic Alliance of Serbia (GSS). All three parties were opposed to Slobodan Milošević's continued rule in Serbia. Zajedno won a significant victory in the Belgrade city elections, and Đurišić was one of the DS candidates elected under its banner.Službeni list (Grada Beograda), Volume 43 Number 3 (22 February 1997), p. 1. The Serbian government initially refused to recognize the opposition's victory but accepted the outcome in early 1997 following extended street protests. The city assembly convened in February 1997, and DS leader Zoran Đinđić became Belgrade's mayor. The coalition's triumph was short-lived; the SPO left Zajedno later in the year, Đinđić was removed as mayor, and the DS moved into opposition. Đurišić took part in public protests against Milošević in July 1999, after the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia."Serbian police order anti-Milosevic petition organizers to disperse," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European – Political, July 12, 1999 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1237 gmt Jul 12, 99).
In 2000, the DS became one of the leading parties in the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), a broad and ideologically diverse coalition of parties opposed to the Milošević regime. DOS candidate Vojislav Koštunica defeated Milošević in the 2000 Yugoslavian presidential election, and Milošević fell from power on October 5 after further demonstrations. The DOS also won a landslide victory in the Belgrade city assembly in the concurrent 2000 Serbian local elections. Đurišić was re-elected to the assembly for New Belgrade's third division and served as a supporter of the local government for the next four years.Одборници СГБ, , City of Belgrade, accessed 18 September 2022. He was also elected to the New Belgrade municipal assembly, where the DOS won sixty-five out of sixty-seven seats.He was elected for the seventeenth division in New Belgrade. See Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 46 Number 17 (6 November 2000), p. 538.
Serbia adopted a system of proportional representation for local elections in 2002. Đurišić appeared on the DS's electoral lists for the Belgrade city assembly and the New Belgrade municipal assembly in the 2004 local elections but was not given a mandate for a new term in either body.He received the seventy-sixth position on the party's list in Belgrade. See Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 48 Number 24 (8 September 2004), p. 3. For the New Belgrade municipal election, he was given the largely honorary sixty-seventh and final position. See Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 48, Number 24, p. 56. For Đurišić's absence from the city and municipal assemblies, see Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 48 Number 34 (29 November 2004), p. 1, and Скупштина општине, , Municipality of New Belgrade, accessed 18 September 2022.In the 2004 local elections, the first one-third of mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order while the remaining two-thirds were distributed amongst other candidates at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions. See Law on Local Elections (June 2002) , Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 33/2002; made available via LegislationOnline, , accessed 7 April 2024.
Parliamentarian (2001–12) The Serbian government fell after Milošević's defeat in the 2000 Yugoslavian election, and new Serbian parliamentary election was called for December 2000. Đurišić received the ninety-fourth position on the DOS's list and was awarded a mandate when the alliance won a landslide victory with 176 out of 250 seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 23. децембра 2000. године и 10. јануара 2001. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (4 Демократска опозиција Србије – др Војислав Коштуница (Демократска странка, Демократска странка Србије, Социјалдемократија, Грађански савез Србије, Демохришћанска странка Србије, Нова Србија, Покрет за демократску Србију, Лига социјалдемократа Војводине, Реформска демократска странка Војводине, Коалиција Војводина, Савез војвођанских Мађара, Демократска алтернатива, Демократски центар, Нова демократија, Социјалдемократска унија, Санxачка демократска партија, Лига за Шумадију, Српски покрет отпора – Демократски покрет), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024.PRVA KONSTITUTIVNA SEDNICA, 22.01.2001., Otvoreni Parlament, 11 January 2001, accessed 18 July 2021. (From 2000 to 2011, assembly mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for the mandates to be assigned out of numerical order. Đurišić was not automatically elected by virtue of his list position, though he received a mandate all the same.)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 6 June 2021. He took his seat when the assembly convened in January 2001 and shortly thereafter accompanied DS deputy chair Boris Tadić on an official visit to Germany."Yugoslav minister says German officials support Milosevic trial in Belgrade," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European – Political, February 7, 2001 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1850 gmt 7 Feb 01). During his first term, he served on the committee for international relations, the committee for transport and communications, and the finance committee.ДЕТАЉИ О НАРОДНОМ ПОСЛАНИКУ: ЂУРИШИЋ, МАРКО, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 18 September 2022.
The DS contested the 2003 Serbian election at the head of its own alliance and won thirty-seven mandates. Đurišić received the 147th position on the party's list.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (5. ДЕМОКРАТСКА СТРАНКА – БОРИС ТАДИЋ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024. He was not included in the DS's initial delegation but received a mandate on 17 February 2004 as the replacement for another delegate who had resigned.TREĆE VANREDNO ZASEDANJE, 17.02.2004 (National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia), Otvoreni Parlament, accessed November 1, 2017.ДЕТАЉИ О НАРОДНОМ ПОСЛАНИКУ: ЂУРИШИЋ, МАРКО, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 18 September 2022. The DS served in opposition in this sitting of parliament. In August 2005, Đurišić attended an event in Poland commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of Solidarity."25th Anniversary of Solidarity Movement Celebrated in Gdansk, Poland," Voice of America Press Releases and Documents, August 31, 2005.
Đurišić received the sixty-seventh position on the Democratic Party's list in the 2007 parliamentary election.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (1 Демократска странка - Борис Тадић), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024. The list won sixty-four seats; he was again not immediately included in his party's delegation but received a mandate on 22 May 2007 as the replacement for another member.Информације о одржаним седницама 2007. године (22. мај 2007. године), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 14 May 2024. The DS formed an unstable alliance with the rival Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and G17 Plus after the election, and Đurišić again served as a government supporter. In his third term, he was the deputy leader of the DS's assembly group, a member of the defence and security committee, and the leader of Serbia's delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (where Serbia has observer status).ДЕТАЉИ О НАРОДНОМ ПОСЛАНИКУ: ЂУРИШИЋ, МАРКО, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 18 September 2022."U.S., Serbian relations excel in military sector", B92, October 5, 2007, accessed April 14, 2017.
Đurišić was the chief of DS incumbent Boris Tadić's campaign staff in the 2008 Serbian presidential election, which was held over two rounds in January and February. Tadić won the election and afterward commended Đurišić for his work on the campaign. Soon after the vote, Đurišić was described as having "bawled out" a journalist who asked a challenging question about the DS's coalition partners, and the newspaper Politika ran an editorial criticizing him."Serbian daily's editor resents "lesson in journalism" from Democratic Party," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, April 6, 2008 (Source: Politika, Belgrade, in Serbian Apr 3, 8, pp 1, 7). Tadić accused Politika of having illegally recorded a conversation with Đurišić; Politika rejected the charge and defended its actions on the basis of a commitment to the freedom of the press."Editor responds to Serbian president's criticism of daily," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, April 19, 2008 (Source: Politika, Belgrade, in Serbian Apr 15, 8, p6). These events led to some friction between the newspaper and the Tadić presidency.