Čedomir Božić (Serbian Cyrillic: Чедомир Божић; born 19 October 1984) is a politician in Serbia. He has served as minister of agriculture, water management, and forestry in the government of Vojvodina since 2020. Previously, he was the mayor of Žabalj from 2012 to 2020. Originally a member of the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS), Božić has been a member of the Serbian Progressive Party (Srpska napredna stranka, SNS) since 2016.
The DS split in 2014, with several members joining Boris Tadić's breakaway New Democratic Party (later renamed as the Social Democratic Party). In March 2014, Božić announced that the entire DS board in Žabalj would join Tadić's party.[6] He returned to the DS in February 2015, however, saying that it was the only pro-European opposition party in the country.[7] This reconciliation proved brief; he left for a second time in February 2016.[8]
Božić led an independent list called Our Municipality of Žabalj in the 2016 Serbian local elections and won nine seats, finishing second against the Progressive Party.[9][10] He and his group joined the Progressives in May 2016,[11] and he was confirmed for a second term as mayor shortly thereafter.[12] He subsequently led the Progressives to a majority victory in the 2020 local elections with fifteen out of twenty-one seats in a reduced assembly.[13][14] He was again confirmed as mayor in September 2020, although his term was cut short by his appointment to the provincial ministry the following month.[15]
Božić highlighted a variety of infrastructure projects in Žabalj in a 2017 sponsored interview.[16]
Provincial cabinet minister
On 29 October 2020, Božić was appointed as minister of agriculture, water management, and forestry in the provincial administration of Igor Mirović.[17][18] In an interview published in January 2021, he indicated that his department had a budget of close to seven billion dollars and that his priorities would be small and medium-sized farms and co-operation with local governments.[19]
^Službeni List (Opštine Žabalj), Volume 38 Number 6 (23 April 2012), p. 1.
^Službeni List (Opštine Žabalj), Volume 38 Number 9 (7 May 2012).
^Zoran Strika, "Čedomir Božić novi sekretar za poljoprivredu: Od demokrata, preko Žablja, do Vlade Vojvodine"], 021.rs, 28 October 2020, accessed 4 July 2021.
^Zoran Strika, "Čedomir Božić novi sekretar za poljoprivredu: Od demokrata, preko Žablja, do Vlade Vojvodine"], 021.rs, 28 October 2020, accessed 4 July 2021.