Zlatko Kokanović

He was 17th on the Student List – Students Win, which won the most votes in the Serbian parliamentary election of 25 October 2026.

Career

Kokanović grows crops and keeps livestock in Gornje Nedeljice, where the Jadar mine is planned, and is a member of Ne damo Jadar and of the Alliance of Environmental Organisations of Serbia. For about seven years he has helped organise and lead rallies and protests against the project, including blockades, and police detained him in Belgrade during the Vidovdan protest of 28 June 2025, releasing him early the next morning. He told Danas he had not meant to enter politics and accepted the students' invitation to stand without knowing until publication whether he was on the list.

Positions

Kokanović calls for a law permanently banning lithium exploration and mining in Serbia and sees no point in talks with Rio Tinto. He argues that green mining is impossible in Serbia, citing pollution around Bor and Majdanpek, and that farming and organic food are the better alternative; he wants water and land declared a national interest and an end to selling farmland and water resources to foreigners. He told Danas that the ruling party had become a second opponent alongside Rio Tinto, that jobs and subsidies should not depend on party membership, and that anyone proven to have broken the law or damaged state property must answer for it.

Controversies

After a blockade of a railway crossing in Loznica on 7 July 2024, police filed a criminal complaint against him for endangering traffic and attacking an official. In February 2025 Ne damo Jadar said prosecutors had indicted him, seeking 14 months in prison, that the Basic Court in Loznica had confirmed the indictment, and called the case politically motivated; in March 2026 the first hearing was postponed because the prosecutor could not say, when the defence asked, who had signed the indictment. On 1 March 2026 he was arrested when farmers tried to block a border crossing to Bosnia and Herzegovina near Loznica; a criminal complaint alleges he drove a tractor into several police officers. Held in custody from 2 March on grounds of public disquiet, he denied attacking or obstructing officials and was released on 13 March 2026 to remain at liberty during the proceedings.

Summarised automatically from the linked sources. Studenti u blokadi (studenti.org.rs) · Danas · 021.rs · Vreme · N1 · 021.rs