Géza Kucsera (Serbian Cyrillic: Геза Кучера, romanized: Geza Kučera; born 20 September 1948) is a politician and community representative in Serbia. A member of the country's Hungarian national minority community, he served in the Assembly of Vojvodina from 2000 to 2004 and was the mayor of Subotica from 2003 to 2008. During his time in public life, Kucsera was a member of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (Vajdasági Magyar Szövetség, VMSZ).

He is now a member of Serbia's Hungarian National Council.

Early life and private career

Kucsera was born in Dobričevo, in the municipality of Bela Crkva, Vojvodina, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He graduated from Subotica's Teacher Training College, initially worked as a teacher, and was a school principal in Subotica from 1978 to 1992. In the latter year, he was required to return to teaching in the classroom – due, he has said, to ethnic discrimination under Slobodan Milošević's rule.[1] He is now retired.

Politician

Local politics

The VMSZ won a plurality victory in Subotica in the 1996 Serbian local elections. When the municipal government was established in early 1997, Kucsera was appointed to the executive council with responsibility for education. The VMSZ subsequently participated in the 2000 local elections as part of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Demokratska opozicija Srbije, DOS), a broad and ideologically diverse coalition of parties opposed to Milošević's administration. The DOS won a landslide victory in Subotica; Kucsera was elected to the municipal assembly and was then re-appointed to his prior role on council. He was promoted to chair of the executive committee in May 2002 and served in this role until May 2003, when he was appointed as president of the municipal assembly, a position that was at the time equivalent to mayor.[2][3]

Serbia introduced the direct election of mayors in the 2004 local elections. Kucsera ran as the VMSZ's candidate and was narrowly elected in the second round over Oliver Dulić of the Democratic Party.[4] He served in this role for the next four years. As mayor, he sought decentralize the administration by introducing paid municipal secretaries in each local community.[5]

The country subsequently abandoned direct mayoral elections, and Kucsera was not a candidate at the local level in 2008.

Provincial politics

Kucersa was elected to the Vojvodina assembly for Subotica's third division in the 2000 provincial election, which was held concurrently with the local elections. The DOS won a landslide victory, and Kucsera served as a supporter of the administration.

Vojvodina introduced a system of mixed proportional representation for the 2004 provincial election. Kucsera appeared in the thirty-fourth position on the VMSZ's electoral list; the party won six proportional seats, and he was not given a mandate.[6] (During this period, proportional mandates were assigned to candidates on the electoral lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions. Kucsera's specific list position had no bearing on his chances of election.) He ran in Subotica's first division in the 2008 provincial election and was defeated in the second round.

At the republic level

Kucsera received the fifty-first position on the VMSZ's list in the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election.[7] The list won three seats, and he did not receive a mandate. (As at the provincial level, parliamentary mandates were awarded in this period to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for mandates to be assigned out of numerical order. Kucsera could have been chosen as part of his party's assembly delegation notwithstanding his list position.)[8]

Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that mandates were awarded in numerical order for candidates on successful lists. Kucsera was given the 120th position on the VMSZ's list for the 2012 parliamentary election.[9] This was too low a position for election to be a reasonable prospect, and he was not elected when the list won five mandates.

He was expelled from the VMSZ in 2016, against the backdrop of a significant purge within the party.[10]

Hungarian National Council

Kucsera has also served on Serbia's Hungarian National Council at different times. He appeared in the fourth position on the "Hungarian Movement" list in the 2018 council elections and was elected when the list won five mandates.[11] He is now a member of the council's committee on the use of languages.[12]

Electoral record

Provincial (Vojvodina)

2008 Vojvodina assembly election
Subotica I (constituency seat) - First and Second Rounds[13]
Nenad Ivanišević "For a European Vojvodina, Democratic Party–G17 Plus, Boris Tadić" 3,020 17.11 6,281 61.45
Géza Kucsera Hungarian Coalition–István Pásztor 3,998 22.66 3,941 38.55
Boris Bajić People's Democratic Party of Vojvodina–Mirko Bajić 2,802 15.88
Žarko Torbica Serbian Radical Party 2,590 14.68
Tibor Murenji Together for Vojvodina–Nenad Čanak 1,619 9.17
Blaško Gabrić Coalition: Da Subotici Svane 1,134 6.42
Rodoljub Đurić Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS)–Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS) 954 5.41
Bojan Uzelac Democratic Party of Serbia–New Serbia–Vojislav Koštunica 601 3.41
Klara Kodžoman Pejić Liberal Democratic Party 506 2.87
Zlatko Ifković Democratic Union of Croats 422 2.39
Total valid votes 17,646 100 10,222 100
2000 Vojvodina assembly election
Subotica III (constituency seat)[14]
Candidate Party or Coalition Result
Gésa Kucsera Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians elected
Zoran Veljanović Serbian Radical Party
other candidates

Municipal (Subotica)

2004 Subotica municipal election
Mayor of Subotica – First and Second Rounds[15][16][17]
Géza Kucsera (incumbent) Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians 16,667 31.89 25,018 50.11
Oliver Dulić Democratic Party–Boris Tadić 8,474 16.21 24,905 49.89
Mirko Bajić Coalition: Subotica Our City 6,878 13.16
Radmilo Todosijević Serbian Radical Party–Tomislav Nikolić 5,129 9.81
József Miskolczi Citizens' Group 3,322 6.36
Blaško Gabrić Citizens' Group: Da Subotici Svane 3,216 6.15
Tomislav Stantić G17 Plus 3,013 5.76
Aleksandar Evetović Strength of Serbia Movement 1,798 3.44
Čaba Šepšei Democratic Party of Vojvodina Hungarians 1,534 2.93
Edit Stevanović Coalition: "Together for Vojvodina–Nenad Čanak" 1,192 2.28
Srećko Novaković Democratic Party of Serbia 1,043 2.00
Total valid votes 52,266 100 49,923 100

References

  1. ↑ Kucsera Géza, Hungarian National Council (Serbia), accessed 16 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Kucsera Géza, Hungarian National Council (Serbia), accessed 16 November 2021.
  3. ↑ "Bolest ili nešto drugo?", Glas javnosti, 8 May 2003, accessed 16 November 2021.
  4. ↑ "Preuranjeno slavlje demokrata u Subotici", 5 October 2004, accessed 16 November 2021.
  5. ↑ "SUgrađani: Geza Kučera - 'Ne smete prestati disati!'", subotica.com, 2 February 2020, accessed 16 November 2021.
  6. ↑ РЕШЕЊЕ О УТВРЂИВАЊУ ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ ЗА ИЗБОРЕ ЗА ПОСЛАНИКЕ У СКУПШТИНУ АУТОНОМНЕ ПОКРАЈИНЕ ВОЈВОДИНЕ, 19. СЕПТЕМБРА 2004. ГОДИНЕ, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.
  7. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (8 Савез војвођанских Мађара - Јожеф Каса), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 October 2021.
  8. ↑ 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.
  9. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (9 VAJDASАGI MAGYAR SZОVETSЕG - PАSZTOR ISTVАN - САВЕЗ ВОЈВОЂАНСКИХ МАЂАРА-ИШТВАН ПАСТОР), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 27 October 2021.
  10. ↑ "SVM isključio 82 člana, među njima i gradonačelnika Subotice", subotica.com, 12 February 2016, accessed 22 November 2021.
  11. ↑ Проглашене изборне листе – Национални савет МАЂАРСКЕ националне мањине (Решење о проглашењу Изборне листе МАЂАРСКИ ПОКРЕТ, Жолдош Ференц - MAGYAR MOZGALOM, Zsoldos Ferenc), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 9 November 2021; and Укупни резултати избора за националне савете националних мањина – Национални савет МАЂАРСКЕ националне мањине (Извештај о укупним резултатима избора), Избори за чланове националних савета националних мањина 2018. године, 4. новембар 2018. године, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 9 November 2021.
  12. ↑ Kucsera Géza, Hungarian National Council (Serbia), accessed 16 November 2021.
  13. ↑ Source: Избори мај 2008. године - резултати по већинском изборном систему (54 Суботица I), Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia, accessed 18 March 2017.
  14. ↑ Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне Покрајине Војводине одржаних 24. септембра и 8. октобра 2000. године, Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia, accessed 29 July 2021; Velika Srbija [Radical Party publication], Volume 11 Number 1201 (Belgrade, September 2000), p. 6.
  15. ↑ Službeni List (Opštine Subotica), Volume 40 Number 39 (8 September 2004), pp. 19-20.
  16. ↑ Službeni List (Opštine Subotica), Volume 40 Number 45 (26 September 2004), p. 2.
  17. ↑ Službeni List (Opštine Subotica), Volume 40 Number 47 (4 October 2004), p. 2.
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