Presidency ofYugoslavia
Serbo-Croatian:Predsjedništvo SFRJ Председништво СФРЈ Slovene:Predsedstvo SFRJ Macedonian:Председателство на СФРЈ
Standard of a Member of the Presidency of Yugoslavia
Best known officeholder Josip Broz Tito 30 June 1971 – 4 May 1980
Term length	No fixed length
Formation	30 June 1971
First holder	Josip Broz Tito
Final holder	Branko Kostić
Abolished	15 June 1992

Politics of Yugoslavia
Constitution 1921 1931 1946 1953 1963 1974
Executive Legislative Head of State Deputy Head of State President(1953–80) Vice President(1963–67) Presidency(1971–91) President of the Presidency(1980–91) Vice President of the Presidency(1971–91) Members Government(1918–53) Prime Minister Deputy Prime Minister Assembly (list) President Federal Executive Council(1953–92) President(1963–92) Federal Council for Protection of the Constitutional Order(1975–92)
Elections Constituent 1920 Parliamentary 1923 1925 1927 1931 1935 1938 1945 1950 1953 1958 1963 1969 1974 1978 1982 1986 1989 Political parties
Administrative divisions Kingdom of Yugoslavia Banovina of Croatia Subdivisions SFR Yugoslavia SR Bosnia and Herzegovina SR Croatia SR Macedonia SR Montenegro SR Serbia SAP Kosovo SAP Vojvodina SR Slovenia
Breakup Yugoslav Wars (Slovenian Croatian Bosnian)
Foreign relations Tripartite Pact Allies United Nations Non-Aligned Movement Organisation of African Unity European Communities
Other countries
v t e

ThePresidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia^[a] was thestanding organ of theAssembly of theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It was established in 1971 according to amendments to the1963 Constitution and reorganized by the1974 Constitution. Up to 1974, thePresidency had 23 members – three from eachrepublic, two from eachautonomous province andPresidentJosip Broz Tito.^[1] In 1974 the Presidency was reduced to 9 members – one from each republic and autonomous province and, until 1988,President of the League of Communists of Yugoslaviaex officio.

According to the1974 Constitution, the Presidency had following powers:^[2]

• representing the federation both inside and outside the country
• commanding theYugoslav People's Army, deciding on using the army both in war and in peace
• protecting equality ofYugoslav nationalities
• protecting theconstitutional order
• proposing a candidate for thefederal prime minister
• proposing candidates for thefederal constitutional court
• appointing the ambassadors and generals and admirals
• appointing theNational Defense Council and, if needed, also other agencies (one of such wasFederal Council for Protection of the Constitutional Order)
• giving quarters and awardingstate decorations

The Presidency had eight members elected by assemblies of each republic and autonomous province and proclaimed by theFederal Assembly of the SFRY, the ninth member was thepresident of the Presidency of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. Thisex officio membership of the LCY leader was abolished by the constitutional changes in autumn 1988.^[3] The mandate of the Presidency lasted five years so the nine-member Presidency was elected in total four times – in 1974, 1979, 1984 and 1989.

Until 1980 most of powers of the Presidency (and control over the country in general) were in fact exercised by Josip Broz Tito, who, under Article 333 of the new constitution, was electedpresident of the republic for anunlimited mandate. After his death in May 1980, his office was automatically abolished and the Presidency began to function according to the constitution.

Sometimes, the Presidency held its sessions in an extended composition. Besides the members of the actual Presidency, in such sessions the following officials took part: chairman of the Federal Assembly, chairman and vice-chairman of theFederal Executive Council (the government), federal secretaries (ministers) ofdefense,interior andforeign affairs, chairman of the Federal Conference of theSocialist Alliance of Working People and chairmen of the presidencies of the Yugoslav republics and autonomous provinces.^[4] The extended Presidency was an advisory council not grounded in the Constitution and as such its decisions were legally non-binding.

Tito, as a president of the republic, wasex officiopresident of the Presidency. After his death a new president of the Presidency was elected every year. The order of rotating of the members on the leading position was agreed in advance, so this annual election was a pure formality. The rotating system jammed only in May 1991 –Stipe Mesić, representative ofFranjo Tuđman's newCroatian government in the Presidency, was about to become the president but wasn't elected due to opposition of a half of the Presidency controlled bySerbian leaderSlobodan Milošević. The top state office of the disintegrating federation remained vacant until 1 July when Mesić was finally elected.^[5][6]

Only one year after Tito's death, Yugoslav leaders had to faceviolent riots inKosovo. On 2 April 1981 the Presidency under presidentCvijetin Mijatović declared astate of emergency inPriština andKosovska Mitrovica, which lasted one week.^[7][8] The Presidency declared a state of emergency again, that time on the whole territory of Kosovo, on 27 February 1989 under presidentRaif Dizdarević, wheneven more serious disorders in Kosovo broke out.^[8][9] For the third time in post-Tito Yugoslavia, a state of emergency in Kosovo was imposed by the Presidency in February 1990.^[10]

The composition of the last Presidency elected in May 1989 reflected both approach of political pluralism in some parts of the federation and the beginning of agony in Yugoslavia:

• Janez Drnovšek fromSlovenia andBogić Bogićević fromBosnia and Herzegovina were elected in direct elections held in their republics^[11][12]
• representatives of Serbia,Montenegro, Kosovo andVojvodina, i.e. half of the Presidency, were acting underde facto control of Slobodan Milošević^[6][13]
• Stipe Šuvar, Croat representative of strongly pro-Yugoslav opinions,^[14] was in October 1990 replaced by Stipe Mesić nominated by Croatian government.^[15]

In summer 1991 Mesić and Drnovšek, regarding their republics independent, ceased to attend sessions of the Presidency. They were followed by Bogićević andVasil Tupurkovski fromMacedonia, so that the Presidency de facto ceased to exist, although the members from Serbia, its autonomous provinces (Kosovo and Vojvodina) and Montenegro continued to regard themselves as Yugoslav and so held sessions until 1992 when theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed, this time with an individualhead of state elected by thefederal assembly.^[6]

• List of members of the Presidency of Yugoslavia

• List of heads of state of Yugoslavia
  • President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia
  • Vice President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia
• Prime Minister of Yugoslavia
• Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
• Presidencies
• 1971 establishments in Yugoslavia
• 1992 disestablishments in Yugoslavia

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