Kosta Stakić

Serbia introduced the direct election of mayors in the 2004 local elections, and Stakić was the DS's candidate in Bačka Palanka. He finished fourth against Dragan Bozalo of the Serbian Radical Party. Members of the Bačka Palanka municipal assembly were elected in the same cycle, but the assembly was not legally constituted afterwards. Another assembly election was held the following year; the Democratic Party won eight seats, and Stakić served with his party's assembly delegation.^[2][3]

The direct election of mayors was abandoned after the 2004 election. Stakić appeared in the lead position on the DS's For a European Serbia electoral list for Bačka Palanka in the 2008 local elections and led the party's assembly delegation after the list won sixteen mandates, finishing a close second against the Radical Party.^[4][5][6] In the immediate aftermath of the election, the Radicals formed a new coalition government with the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Democratic Party of Serbia (Demokratska stranka Srbije, DSS), and Dragan Bozalo continued as mayor.^[7][8][9] In November 2008, however, the DS formed a new coalition that included both the Socialists and the DSS, and Stakić was chosen as mayor in his place.^[10][11] While in office, he attempted to deal with a long-standing issue of residents in the villages of Neštin and Vizić facing legal hurdles when crossing Croatian territory to access the rest of Bačka Palanka.^[12]

He remained in office for a year and a half; in April 2010, the Radicals formed a new coalition with the DSS (following the defection of a For a European Serbia delegate), and Bozalo returned to office again.^[13] Stakić did not seek re-election to the municipal assembly in 2012.

From 2004 to 2016, Vojvodina used a system of mixed proportional representation for provincial elections: half the delegates were chosen by election in single-member constituencies, and the other half were chosen by proportional representation on electoral lists. Stakić was elected for the Bačka Palanka constituency in the 2008 Vojvodina provincial election, defeating Bozalo in the second round of voting. The Democrats and their allies won a majority government, and Stakić served as a supporter of the administration.

In the 2012 provincial election, he appeared in the thirty-fourth position on the DS's Choice for a Better Vojvodina list. The list won sixteen proportional mandates, and Stakić was not elected. He has not sought a return to politics since this time.^[14]