Presidency of Yugoslavia

The Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the collective head of state of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It was established in 1971 according to amendments to the 1963 Constitution and reorganized by the 1974 Constitution. Up to 1974, the Presidency had 23 members – three from each republic, two from each autonomous province and President Josip Broz Tito. 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 Yugoslavia ex officio.

Constitutional powers

According to the 1974 Constitution, the Presidency had following powers:

representing the federation both inside and outside the country
commanding the Yugoslav People's Army, deciding on using the army both in war and in peace
protecting equality of Yugoslav nationalities
protecting the constitutional order
proposing a candidate for the federal prime minister
proposing candidates for the federal constitutional court
appointing the ambassadors and generals and admirals
appointing the National Defense Council and, if needed, also other agencies
giving quarters and awarding state decorations

The Presidency had eight members elected by assemblies of each republic and autonomous province and proclaimed by the Federal Assembly of the SFRY, the ninth member was the president of the Presidency of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. This ex officio membership of the LCY leader was abolished by the constitutional changes in autumn 1988. 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 were in fact exercised by Josip Broz Tito, who, under Article 333 of the new constitution, was elected president of the republic for an unlimited 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 the Federal Executive Council, federal secretaries of defense, interior and foreign affairs, chairman of the Federal Conference of the Socialist Alliance of Working People and chairmen of the presidencies of the Yugoslav republics and autonomous provinces. The extended Presidency was an advisory council not grounded in the Constitution and as such its decisions were legally non-binding.

Post-Tito period

Tito, as a president of the republic, was ex officio president 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 of Franjo Tuđman's new Croatian government in the Presidency, was about to become the president but wasn't elected due to opposition of a half of the Presidency controlled by Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević. The top state office of the disintegrating federation remained vacant until 1 July when Mesić was finally elected.
Only one year after Tito's death, Yugoslav leaders had to face violent riots in Kosovo. On 2 April 1981 the Presidency under president Cvijetin Mijatović declared a state of emergency in Priština and Kosovska Mitrovica, which lasted one week. The Presidency declared a state of emergency again, that time on the whole territory of Kosovo, on 27 February 1989 under president Raif Dizdarević, when even more serious disorders in Kosovo broke out. For the third time in post-Tito Yugoslavia, a state of emergency in Kosovo was imposed by the Presidency in February 1990.
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 from Slovenia and Bogić Bogićević from Bosnia and Herzegovina were elected in direct elections held in their republics
representatives of Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Vojvodina, i.e. half of the Presidency, were acting under de facto control of Slobodan Milošević
Stipe Šuvar, Croat representative of strongly pro-Yugoslav opinions, was in October 1990 replaced by Stipe Mesić nominated by Croatian government.

In summer 1991 Mesić and Drnovšek, regarding their republics independent, ceased to attend sessions of the Presidency. They were followed by Bogićević and Vasil Tupurkovski from Macedonia, so that the Presidency de facto ceased to exist, although the members from Serbia, its autonomous provinces and Montenegro continued to regard themselves as Yugoslav and so held sessions until 1992 when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed, this time with an individual head of state elected by the federal assembly.

Composition (1971–1992)

Members

List of members of the Presidency of Yugoslavia