Biography of new Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić

Biography of new Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić

BELGRADE -- Aleksandar Vučić served as first deputy PM in charge of defense, security and fight against corruption and crime in the previous cabinet since September 2013.

In the same period, he was secretary general of the National Security Council.

Prior to this, he held office as minister of defense and deputy prime minister responsible for defense, security and fight against corruption and crime in the period from July 2012 until the government reshuffle in September 2013.

Vučić was born in Belgrade on March 5, 1970 and graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Belgrade University as one of the best students in his generation.

In 1992, he joined the Serb Radical Party (SRS) and soon became a member of the Serbian parliament. In 1994 he became the party's secretary general.

In the period before the NATO military intervention in 1998, Vučić became minister for information in the government of national unity.

He was elected to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia parliament on three occasions.

Vučić held office as the SRS deputy caucus whip in the Serbian parliament.

As one of the founders of the Serb Progressive Party (SNS) in 2008, he was first its deputy president and in June 2012, after SNS won the election and Tomislav Nikolić became Serbia's president, Vučić was appointed the party's acting leader.

At the early electoral assembly in September 2012, Vučić was unanimously elected new SNS leader.

Vučić speaks English and Russian, and is married with two children.