Zlata Đerić

Đerić entered political life as a member of the Serbian Renewal Movement (Srpski pokret obnove, SPO), appearing in the lead position on the party's electoral list for the Sombor division in the 1997 Serbian parliamentary election.[3] She would have automatically received a mandate had the list crossed the electoral threshold, but it did not.[4] The SPO experienced a serious split the following year, and Đerić joined the breakaway New Serbia party under the leadership of Velimir Ilić.

Serbia's electoral system was reformed prior to the 2000 Serbian parliamentary election: the entire country was designated as a single electoral district, and parliamentary mandates were assigned at the discretion of successful parties or coalitions, irrespective of the numerical order of the candidates. New Serbia participated in the election as part of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), a broad coalition of parties opposed to the former administration of Slobodan Milošević. Đerić was included on the DOS list in the 212th position.[5] The list won a landslide victory with 176 out of 250 seats. Đerić was not initially included in the DOS's assembly delegation but was awarded a mandate on 4 December 2001 as the replacement for another party member.[6] New Serbia provided support for the DOS government until 2002, when it broke from the alliance and moved into opposition.

New Serbia contested the 2003 parliamentary election in an alliance with the SPO and the 2007 parliamentary election in an alliance with the Democratic Party of Serbia (Demokratska stranka Srbije, DSS). Both times, Đerić appeared on the coalition's electoral list.[7][8] She was not selected for a mandate on either occasion.

The DSS and New Serbia continued their alliance into the 2008 parliamentary election. Đerić received the fiftieth position on their list[9] and was this time awarded a mandate for a second term in the assembly when the list won thirty seats.[10] The results of the election were initially inconclusive, but a new government was eventually formed by the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS), the Socialist Party of Serbia, and other parties; New Serbia served in opposition.

Serbia's electoral system was again reformed in 2011, such that mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order. New Serbia formed an alliance with the Serbian Progressive Party during this time and contested the 2012 parliamentary election on the latter's Let's Get Serbia Moving list. Đerić received the fifty-seventh position and was re-elected when it won seventy-three mandates.[11] A new coalition government was formed after the election that included New Serbia, and Đerić served as part of its parliamentary majority. She was given the sixty-ninth position on the Progressive Party's coalition list in the 2014 parliamentary election and was again re-elected when the list won a majority victory with 158 mandates.[12] In September 2014, she was chosen to lead a working group on human rights and freedoms and the rights of the child.[13]

Đerić did not seek re-election to the national assembly in 2016 but was instead appointed as the party's provincial leader in Vojvodina and appeared in the tenth position on the Progressive Party's coalition list for the 2016 Vojvodina provincial election.[14] She was elected when the list won a majority victory with sixty-three out of 120 mandates and subsequently served as a deputy speaker of the assembly.

In early 2017, Velimir Ilić withdrew New Serbia's support for Serbia's Progressive-led government at the republic level. This precipitated a split in the party, with several prominent party members breaking with Ilić and continuing to support the Progressives. Some party dissidents in Vojvodina also objected to Đerić's appointment as party leader.[15] Đerić initially remained with New Serbia and was elected as one of its vice-presidents in November 2017.[16] She eventually left the party, however, and created her own political movement called "Team for Life" (Tim za Život) in 2018.[17]

For the 2020 parliamentary election, Đerić led "Team for Life" into the BROOM 2020 alliance led by the DSS and served on the alliance's presidency.[18][19] She received the fifth position on the alliance's list in the election.[20] The list did not cross the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly.

Đerić has sought election to the Sombor city assembly on at least two occasions. In the 2008 Serbian local elections, New Serbia formed a local alliance with the Socialist Party of Serbia in Sombor, and Đerić received the three position on its electoral list.[21] In the 2016 local elections, she appeared in the lead position on a list called, "Truth – New Serbia."[22] In both cases, the list did not cross the electoral threshold to win any mandates.[23][24]