Boris Tadić (born January 15, 1958) is the President of Serbia.

He attended elementary and high school in Belgrade and graduated in Social Psychology at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy. He taught psychology at the First Belgrade High School.

He founded and was the first Director of the Centre for the Development of Democracy and Political Skills.

Tadić has been a member of the Democratic Party since 1990, performing several roles within the party: Secretary of the General Committee, Vice-President of the Executive Board, Acting President of the Executive Board, Twice elected Vice-President of the Democratic Party.

In 2002 he became Minister of Telecommunications in the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; later he was Minister of Defence in the Council of Ministers of Serbia and Montenegro. In 2003 he was elected as a Representative to the Assembly of Serbia and Montenegro and became Acting Head of the Group of Democratic Party Representatives. In 2004 he was elected as a Head-Representative of his party to the National Assembly of Serbia. Later in this year, he was elected President of Democratic Party, one year after the assassination of the former party president, Zoran Djindjic.

In the first round of the Serbian presidential election, 2004 he won 27.3% of the vote. In the second round, on June 27, 2004, he defeated Tomislav Nikolić with 53.24% of the vote.

He was officially sworn in as the president at a ceremony in Belgrade on July 11, 2004.

On December 1, 2004, Tadic’s presidential motorcade was involved in a traffic accident. Miroslav Cimpl, a Serbian employee of the US Embassy refused to make way for the motorcade and crashed repeatedly into the vehicles of the motorcade, though the president’s car was not affected. The employee managed to flee, but after reporting the incident to his employer, the US Embassy, he was subsequently arrested. This incident was very significant to the general public because it evoked memories of a failed attempt of assassination of Zoran Djnindjic, when a car crashed into Djindjic's motorcade on an open road. Many believed this incident to be an attempt to assassinate Tadic. However, a subsequent police investigation found no evidence to support this claim.

The Minister of Police said on a press conference that Cimpl was confused when he saw the flashing lights of the motorcade and did not know what to do. The police concluded that it was only a traffic accident and that there was no intention to harm the President. Cimpl stayed in jail for two weeks, before being released. (Halifax) (B92)

Besides his native language Serbian, Tadić also speaks English and French. He is married and the father of two children.

External links

• Official Presidential Campaign Website
• Fansite
• Democratic Party Website