Robert Podolnjak
| Robert Podolnjak | |
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| Member of the Croatian Parliament for III electoral district |
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Assumed office 26 January 2016 |
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| Chairman of the Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System of the Croatian Parliament (Two terms) |
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In office 26 January 2016 – June 2017 |
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| President | Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović |
| Prime Minister |
Tihomir Orešković (2016) Andrej Plenković (2016-2017) |
| Preceded by | Peđa Grbin |
| Succeeded by | Željko Reiner |
| Deputy speaker of the Croatian Parliament | |
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In office 28 December 2015 – 14 October 2016 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Robert Jovanović 3 June 1958 Varaždin, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) |
| Political party |
Croatian Peasant Party (before 2010) Independent (2010-2016) Bridge of Independent Lists (2016-present) |
| Spouse(s) | Iva Podolnjak |
| Children | 1 |
| Alma mater | University of Zagreb |
| Occupation | University professor, politician |
| Profession | Political scientist |
Robert Podolnjak (born 3 June 1958) is a Croatian associate professor of constitutional law and politician who served as chairman of the Croatian Parliament's Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System between January 2016 and June 2017. Podolnjak was elected to the Croatian Parliament at the 2015 and 2016 parliamentary elections as representative for III electoral district. He is member of the Bridge of Independent Lists party.
Robert Podolnjak was born in Varaždin on June 3, 1958. Until 1992 he had Serbian surname Jovanović, which he changed to his mothers because his wife was pregnant with their first child during period of the Croatian War of Independence (1991-1995), so they did not want their child to bear the surname to which many then tied negative connotations. As he later explained, his father Vjekoslav (b. 1933) and grandfather Ivan identified themselves on the censuses as Croats and Catholics which had Serbian (Orthodox) surname because Podolnjak's grandfather, who lived in Sremska Mitrovica, was adopted by a man with that surname. His grandfather Ivan Jovanović was executed in late 1944 by the Yugoslav Partisans because he was a guard in Sremska Mitrovica jail so Partisans suspected him of collaboration witch Nazi and Ustaše occupiers.
Podolnjak finished elementary and high school in Varaždin, after which he enrolled in Zagreb Faculty of Political Sciences from which he graduated in 1981. He gained his master's degree in 1991 from the same Faculty, and PhD in 2001 from the Zagreb Faculty of Law.
Robert Podolnjak got his first job in 1985 when he started worked as an adviser and secretary in the government of the City of Varaždin. At that time, he became a close associate of mayor Ivan Čehok (HSLS). In 2006, Podolnjak resigned because he got a job at the Chair of Constitutional Law of the Zagreb Faculty of Law where he still works as associate professor.
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