Rasim Ljajić

Rasim Ljajić (born 28 January 1964) is a Serbian politician and sports administrator who currently serves as president of FK Partizan.

A prominent Bosniak politician from Novi Pazar and president of Social Democratic Party of Serbia, he served in multiple ministerial positions of the Government of Serbia from 2000 to 2020. Following the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević, he first served as Minister of Human and Minority Rights of FR Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro from 2000 to 2006. Ljajić was also the president of the National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. From 2007 to 2012, he served as Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy.

From 2012 to 2020, he served as both the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and the Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications.

As of October 2024 he has served as president of FK Partizan.

Education Ljajić was born in Novi Pazar to a Bosniak Muslim family. After finishing high school, he graduated from the University of Sarajevo School of Medicine.

Political career In 1990, Ljajić was elected Secretary General of the Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak as one of its founders, a branch of the SDA in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, aimed at gathering Bosniaks in Serbia. In 1993 he left the party and with dissidents formed the Sandžak Democratic Party, criticizing Sulejman Ugljanin for being an extremist and endorsing separatism from Yugoslavia in an effort to join an enlarged Bosnia dominated by Bosnian Muslims.

One of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia leaders, he became Minister of Human and Minority Rights in 2000 after the fall of Slobodan Milošević, and his mandate as a minister was extended in the rump DS-led 2001 government.

Ljajić is the long-term Head of the Coordination Team with the Hague Tribunal. In the 2003 parliamentary election he unsuccessfully led a "Together for Tolerance" coalition, along with Nenad Čanak of the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina and Jožef Kasa of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians. The coalition received 4.2% of the vote and did not pass the 5% threshold.

Sports administration In 2024, Ljajić was elected president of FK Partizan temporary governing body.

Personal life Ljajić is an ethnic Bosniak. His relative and close friend Dževad Ljajić died in the military helicopter crash in Serbia on the night of 14 March 2015, which also claimed six other lives.

On 10 April 2022, Ljajić was seriously injured in a car accident on the Belgrade-Niš Highway near Ražanj. His associate and former MP Branko Gogić was killed in the accident.

He is a Muslim.