Gordana Čomić

Gordana Čomić (Гордана Чомић; born 16 June 1958) is a Serbian politician. A long-time member of the Democratic Party (DS), she was excluded from the party in 2020 after openly opposing the DS's boycott of the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election. She later served as Serbia's minister for human and minority rights and social dialogue in Ana Brnabić's administration from 2020 to 2022.

Early life and career
Čomić was born in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. She trained as a physicist and was employed at the University of Novi Sad's Faculty of Technical Sciences from 1984 to 1999. From 1999 to 2004, she worked in marketing for JP SPC Vojvodina.

Čomić was one of the first Serbian politicians to write a blog, starting in 2006.

Early years (1992–2001)
Čomić joined the Democratic Party's Novi Sad municipal board in 1992. She later became a party spokesperson at the city and provincial levels, led its Novi Sad election headquarters in 1996, and was president of its provincial board in Vojvodina from 1998 to 2001.

Čomić appeared on the Democratic Party's electoral lists for the Novi Sad division in the 1992 and 1993 parliamentary elections, although she did not receive an assembly mandate on either occasion. (From 1992 to 2000, Serbia's electoral law stipulated that one-third of parliamentary mandates would be assigned to candidates on successful lists in numerical order, while the remaining two-thirds would be distributed amongst other candidates at the discretion of sponsoring parties or coalitions. Čomić did not have a high enough list position in either 1992 or 1993 to receive an automatic mandate, nor was she granted an optional mandate afterwards.)

The DS contested the 1996 Yugoslavian parliamentary election as part of the Zajedno (English: Together) coalition, and Čomić appeared in the lead position on its electoral list for Zrenjanin. The list did not cross the electoral threshold to win any seats in the division. Čomić was, however, elected to the Assembly of Vojvodina for Novi Sad's thirteenth division in the concurrent 1996 Vojvodina provincial election. The Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) won a majority victory at the provincial level, and Čomić led the Zajedno opposition group in the assembly from 1997 to 2000. At the municipal level, she was a member of Novi Sad's executive committee in 1997, after the victory of Zajedno in the 1996 Serbian local elections.

In 2000, the DS became one of the main parties in the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), a broad and ideologically diverse coalition of parties opposed to Slobodan Milošević's authoritarian rule. DOS candidate Vojislav Koštunica defeated Milošević in the 2000 Yugoslavian presidential election, which led to Milošević's fall from power and prompted widespread changes in the political culture of Serbia and Yugoslavia. Čomić was re-elected for Novi Sad's tenth division in the 2000 Vojvodina provincial election, which took place concurrently with the presidential vote. The DOS won a landslide victory provincially, and Čomić served as a deputy speaker of the Vojvodina assembly from 2000 to 2001. She also appeared on the DOS's electoral list for the Yugoslavian Chamber of Republics in 2000, although she did not receive a mandate for that body.

2000–12
Serbia's government fell after Milošević's defeat in the Yugoslavian election, and a new Serbian parliamentary election was called for December 2000. Serbia's electoral system was reformed prior to the vote, such that the entire country became a single electoral division and all assembly mandates were assigned to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions, irrespective of numerical order. Čomić received the twenty-first position on the DOS's electoral list. The list won a landslide majority victory with 176 out of 250 mandates, and she was included in the DS's delegation when the new assembly convened in January 2001. She became a party vice-president later in the year and served as a deputy speaker of the assembly.

In October 2003, Čomić controversially delayed a vote of no-confidence in the government of Zoran Živković, prompting some opposition members to charge that the delay was a method to give the government more time to build a working majority. Speaker Nataša Mićić ultimately dissolved the assembly for new elections on 13 November 2003. The Democratic Party contested the resulting 2003 parliamentary election at the head of its own alliance, and Čomić received the sixth position on its electoral list. The list won thirty-seven seats, and she was again included in her party's assembly delegation. The rival Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) formed a coalition government after the election, and the DS moved into opposition.

Čomić supported Živković's candidacy against Boris Tadić for the vacant Democratic Party leadership in January 2004. It was reported that Tadić responded by blocking Čomić from becoming the new assembly speaker, a position she had expected to receive. Tadić was chosen as party leader in February 2004, and Čomić was defeated in her concurrent bid for re-election as a party vice-president. She chaired the foreign affairs committee in the 2004–07 parliament and also served on the committees for environmental protection and European integration. In 2006, she was appointed as part of Serbia's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA). She supported Serbia's integration into the European Union and criticized what she regarded as efforts to increase the country's dependence on Russia. In 2006, she worked with parliamentarians from Montenegro on a regional charter of minority rights.

She received the thirteenth position on the DS's list in the 2007 parliamentary election and was given a mandate for a third term after the list won sixty-four seats. The DS formed an unstable coalition government with the DSS and G17 Plus after the election, and Čomić served with its assembly majority. She was deputy chair of the environmental protection committee and continued to serve on the European integration committee.

The DS–DSS coalition broke down in early 2008, and a new parliamentary election was called for May of that year. The DS contested the election at the head of the For a European Serbia (ZES) alliance; Čomić was included on the ZES list and received a mandate for a fourth term after the list won 102 out of 250 seats. The overall results of the election were inconclusive, but ZES eventually formed a coalition government with the Socialist Party. Čomić was elected to a second term as deputy speaker when the assembly convened. She was also a member of the foreign affairs committee, the European integration committees, and the working group on the rights of the child; a deputy member of the constitutional affairs committee and the poverty reduction committee; the leader of Serbia's parliamentary friendship group with Israel; and a member of the friendship groups with Indonesia, Portugal, the Sovereign Order of Malta, and the United States of America.

She indicated her support for the Statute of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in January 2009, indicating that it was not a separatist document (as some had argued) and that it would benefit both Vojvodina and Serbia as a whole.

2012–20
Serbia's electoral system was again reformed in 2011, such that parliamentary mandates were awarded in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. Čomić was given the fifteenth position on the Democratic Party's Choice for a Better Life coalition list in the 2012 election and was re-elected when the list won sixty-seven mandates. The SPS formed a new administration with the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and other parties after the election, and the DS moved into opposition. Čomić continued to serve in Serbia's delegation to the OSCE PA and was selected by the body as a rapporteur for human rights and migration. She was also a member of the national assembly committees for environmental protection, European integration, and the rights of the child; a deputy member of the committee on human and minority rights and gender equality; and a member of the friendship groups with Hungary, Israel, Mexico, Montenegro, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In November 2013, Čomić headed an OSCE PA delegation overseeing the 2013 Tajikistani presidential election. She was critical of the way the vote was handled, saying, "While quiet and peaceful, this was an election without a real choice. Being in power requires abiding by OSCE commitments, not taking advantage of incumbency, as we saw here. Greater genuine political pluralism will be critical for Tajikistan to meet its democratic commitments." Čomić later advocated for the OSCE PA's Baku Declaration.

She received the sixth position on the DS's list in the 2014 parliamentary election and was re-elected as the list fell to only nineteen mandates overall. In the 2014–16 parliament, she was a member of the European integration committee and the committee on the rights of the child, a deputy member of the environmental protection committee and the committee for human and minority rights and gender equality, and a member of the friendship groups with Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. She ceased to be a full member of Serbia's OSCA PA delegation, becoming instead a deputy member. In June 2014, she was again elected as a DS vice-president.

She received the fifth position on the DS's list in the 2016 parliamentary election and was re-elected when the list won sixteen seats. In the parliament that followed, she was deputy chair of the committee on constitutional and legislative issues; a member of the committee on Kosovo-Metohija, the European integration committee, and the committee on the rights of the child; a deputy member of the environmental protection committee, the defence and internal affairs committee, and the European Union–Serbia stabilization and association committee; a member of a commission to "investigate the consequences of the NATO 1999 bombing on the health of the citizens of Serbia, as well as the environment, with a special focus on the impact of the depleted uranium projectiles"; a deputy member of the Serbia's delegation to the South-East European Cooperation Process parliamentary assembly; and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States. She continued to serve as a deputy speaker of the assembly throughout the DS's years in opposition from 2012 to 2020.

Čomić was an early supporter of Saša Janković's bid for president of Serbia in the 2017 election. Janković was ultimately endorsed by the Democratic Party and finished a distant second against Aleksandar Vučić of the Progressive Party.

She ran for the leadership of the Democratic Party in 2018 and finished second against Zoran Lutovac. During the contest, the Serbian media reported that several DS members considered her to be ambivalent about the party's opposition to the SNS and Vučić's government. Some in the party nicknamed her "Vučić" on this basis.

The Democratic Party began boycotting the national assembly in early 2019, against the backdrop of significant public protests against Serbia's government. Čomić initially co-operated with the boycott, but in February 2020 she attended an assembly session against the party's wishes. She defended her decision on the grounds that her purpose was to present draft legislation requiring at least forty per cent female representation on election lists at the republican and municipal levels. (The legislation was approved, and Serbia's electoral laws were changed accordingly.)

Shortly after Čomić returned to the assembly, she took part in a press conference with the Serbia 21 party, which announced that it would participate in the 2020 parliamentary election despite broader calls for an opposition boycott. She was formally expelled from the DS in May 2020.

In the 2020 parliamentary election, Čomić appeared in the fourth position on the electoral list of the United Democratic Serbia (UDS) alliance, which included Serbia 21. A non-party candidate, she rejected suggestions that the UDS would join the SNS's coalition government after the election. The list did not cross the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly, and her term ended on 3 August 2020.

Cabinet minister (2020–2022)
Čomić was appointed to prime minister Ana Brnabić's cabinet in October 2020 as minister of human and minority rights and social dialogue. While Brnabić's government was dominated by the SNS, Čomić served in a non-party capacity.

Čomić's main legislative initiative was an anti-discrimination law on same-sex partnerships, which she introduced in March 2021. The legislation sought to extend civic rights to same-sex couples, though it did not address the subjects of marriage or adoption; Čomić contended that these were issues of family law, whereas her legislation was focused on human rights concerns. Even the limited rights extended to same-sex couples in the legislation prompted opposition from conservative circles.

Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić said that he would not sign the law on the grounds that it violated Serbia's constitution. Čomić sought to downplay the importance of Vučić's opposition, saying that the law's validity would ultimately be determined by Serbia's constitutional court. After the 2022 Serbian parliamentary election (in which she was not a candidate), she indicated that the draft law had been completed with the help of expert opinion from the Council of Europe and that it was ready for the mandate of Serbia's incoming government. Ultimately, though, the law was never brought forward for approval by the assembly.

Čomić was dropped from cabinet in October 2022. She has not returned to public life since this time.