Benjamina Karić
Karić in 2023
39th Mayor of Sarajevo
Assumed office
8 April 2021
Preceded byAbdulah Skaka
Personal details
Born
Benjamina Londrc

(1991-04-08) 8 April 1991
Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia
NationalityBosnian
Political partySocial Democratic Party (2009–present)
SpouseAlen Karić
Children1
Residence(s)Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
EducationUniversity of Sarajevo

Benjamina Karić (Serbian Cyrillic: Бењамина Карић; née Londrc; born 8 April 1991) is a Bosnian politician serving as the 39th mayor of Sarajevo since April 2021. She has been a member of the Social Democratic Party since 2009.

Karić was born in Sarajevo in 1991. She graduated from the University of Sarajevo. She later worked as an assistant at the Faculty of Law at the University of Travnik and in Kiseljak. Following the 2020 municipal elections, Karić became mayor of Sarajevo in 2021 as a replacement for Bogić Bogićević, who decided to pull out of the candidacy for mayor shortly before.

Early life and education

Karić was born on 8 April 1991 in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia,[1] to Bosnian Muslim father Hasan Londrc[2] and Serb mother Branka née Đinđić. She graduated from two faculties at the same time, the Faculty of Law, University of Sarajevo and the Department of History of the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo.[1]

Karić is a recipient of the Silver Badge of the University of Sarajevo for Outstanding Achievement in Undergraduate and Postgraduate Studies. She is an author of fifty publications, books, articles and translations from Latin to Bosnian.[3]

In 2014, she was an assistant at the Faculty of Law, University of Travnik and in Kiseljak.[4]

Karić joined the Social Democratic Party at the age of 18 in 2009, becoming the party's vice president ten years later, in 2019.[5]

Mayor of Sarajevo (2021–present)

Appointment

Following the 2020 Bosnian municipal elections, Bogić Bogićević, former member of the Presidency of Yugoslavia in the late 1980s and early 1990s, announced that he would accept the appointment as mayor of Sarajevo by the four-party liberal alliance, colloquially called the Four, which was set to govern the City Council after the elections, and that also included the Social Democratic Party (SDP BiH).[6] However, on 24 March 2021, he decided to pull out of the candidacy because of conflicts in the alliance.[7][8] Karić was then proposed as a potential candidate, with the SDP BiH officialy announcing that she would be the new candidate for the office of mayor on 5 April 2021.[9]

Three days later on 8 April, Karić was unanimously elected by members of the City Council of Sarajevo to become the 39th mayor of the city, succeeding Abdulah Skaka.[10]

Tenure

Karić with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, 28 October 2022

In June 2021, Karić visited the northwestern Bosnian city of Banja Luka, where she met with its mayor Draško Stanivuković, marking this event the first time after 26 years, and since the end of the Bosnian War, that the mayors of both Sarajevo and Banja Luka, as the two largest cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, have met each other.[11] Later during that same month, Karić and Istočno Sarajevo mayor Ljubiša Ćosić signed a memorandum on the construction of a bike path, planned to connect Sarajevo and the town of Pale.[12] On 30 June, the city's authorities launched a project to rebuild the astronomical observatory located on the mountain Trebević.[13] On 8 July 2021, she visited Istanbul and there met with its mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.[14] On 17 July, the eve of her 100th day in office, Karić revealed plans for constructions of a large urban park, bike paths and excursion sites.[15]

On 12 November 2021, the Sarajevo City Administration put up a monument in Kazani, honoring ethnic Serbs living inside besieged Sarajevo, who were victims of a mass murder by the forces of Mušan Topalović, commander of the 10th Mountain Brigade in the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War.[16][17][18] On 15 November, Karić and High Representative Christian Schmidt unveiled the monument.[19] UDIK, which was one of initiators of the monument, and families of the victims did not attend the unveiling after it was revealed that the perpetrators' names would be omitted from the plaque.[16][20][21]

Throughout 2023, façades in Sarajevo's center, mostly those built during the Austro-Hungarian period, have been undergoing renovations.[22]

In June 2023, Karić refused to project the rainbow flag, a symbol of LGBT pride, on the City Hall, and opted not to publicly show her support for the LGBT community, unlike most of her fellow SDP BiH members who have regularly showed support for the community.[23]

Following a large escalation of the Gaza–Israel conflict in October 2023, Karić said it was "hypocritical to condemn Hamas' attack on Israel, and not to condemn all that happened before and after it".[24]

Personal life

She is married to Alen Karić, and together they have one child.[25] She lives with her family in Sarajevo.

In addition to her native Bosnian, Karić speaks English and German fluently.[25]

References

  1. 1 2 "Ko je Benjamina Karić, nova gradonačelnica Sarajeva" (in Bosnian). radiosarajevo.ba. 8 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  2. ↑ "DOBITNICI ZLATNE I SREBRENE ZNAČKE I POVELJE UNIVERZITETA U SARAJEVU PROMOVIRANI 07. 11. 2015. GODINE" (PDF).
  3. ↑ Aldijana Hadžić (8 April 2021). "BiH: Benjamina Karić izabrana za gradonačelnicu Sarajeva" (in Bosnian). aa.com.tr. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  4. ↑ "Londrc Benjamina - Univerzitet u Travniku". paperzz.com. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  5. ↑ "Mlada naučnica umjesto Bogića Bogićevića: Ko je Benjamina Karić, kandidatkinja za gradonačelnicu Sarajeva?" (in Bosnian). depo.ba. 5 April 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  6. ↑ "Bogić Bogićević prihvatio kandidaturu za gradonačelnika Sarajeva". Radio Slobodna Evropa (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  7. ↑ R.D. (24 March 2021). "Bogić Bogićević odustao od kandidature za gradonačelnika Sarajeva!" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  8. ↑ Kovacevic, Danijel (25 March 2021). "Bosnian Political Legend Withdraws From Sarajevo Mayoral Race". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  9. ↑ S. Hambo (5 April 2021). "Benjamina Karić je zvanični prijedlog SDP-a za gradonačelnicu Sarajeva" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  10. ↑ R.D. (8 April 2021). "Benjamina Karić je zvanično nova gradonačelnica Sarajeva" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  11. ↑ "Nakon 26 godina prvi se put sastali gradonačelnici Banje Luke i Sarajeva: 'Došla su nova vremena'" (in Croatian). jutarnji.hr. 22 June 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  12. ↑ M.G. (28 June 2021). "Karić i Ćosić potpisali Memorandum o izgradnji biciklističke staze Sarajevo-Pale" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  13. ↑ B.T. (30 June 2021). "Sarajevske vlasti pokrenule projekt obnove astronomskog opservatorija na Trebeviću" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  14. ↑ N.V. (8 July 2021). "Karić u službenoj posjeti Istanbulu: Radit ćemo na projektu Bijela tabija" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  15. ↑ B.T. (17 July 2021). "Karić otkrila planove o velikom gradskom parku, biciklističkim stazama, izletištima..." (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  16. 1 2 Dzaferagic, Nejra (15 November 2021). "Sarajevo Unveils Memorial to Victims of Kazani Pit Killings". Balkan Insight.
  17. ↑ Ristic, Mirjana (2018). Architecture, Urban Space and War: The Destruction and Reconstruction of Sarajevo. Springer. p. 194. ISBN 978-3-31976-771-0.
  18. ↑ Moll 2015, p. 14.
  19. ↑ "(FOTO) Postavljen spomenik na Kazanima: Ko je počinio zločin?". Klix. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  20. ↑ Begic, Jasmin (27 October 2021). "Sarajevo to Build Massacre Memorial without Naming Perpetrators". Balkan Insight.
  21. ↑ "Funkciju ne čine samo objave na društvenim mrežama, nekada treba imati hrabrosti za donošenje teških odluka: Vlast je podigla spomenik sebi". Oslobođenje. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  22. ↑ "Sarajevo u prelijepom sjaju: Nastavljen projekt obnove fasada, gradonačelnica otkrila nove lokacije". radiosarajevo.ba (in Bosnian). 8 August 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  23. ↑ D.H. (24 June 2023). "Parada ponosa podijelila stranku: Crveni protiv zelenog SDP-a" (in Bosnian). Dnevni avaz. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  24. ↑ "Karić: Licemjerno je osuditi samo napad Hamasa na Izrael, a ne osuditi sve što se dešavalo prije toga" [Karić: It is hypocritical to condemn Hamas' attack on Israel, and not to condemn all that happened before and after it]. N1 (in Bosnian). Sarajevo. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  25. 1 2 N.V. (8 April 2021). "Ovo je biografija nove gradonačelnice Sarajeva Benjamine Karić" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 8 April 2021.

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