President of the League of Communists of Serbia

Jovan Veselinov** 30 March 1957 – 4 November 1966 (1982–1991) The president was the leader of the League of Communists of Serbia (LCS), the ruling party of the Socialist Republic of Serbia (SRS) in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Party rules stipulated that the LCS Central Committee elected the president. Moreover, the Central Committee was empowered to remove the president. The president served ex officio as a member of the Presidency of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY) and of the SRS Presidency. To be eligible to serve, the president had to be a member of the Presidency of the LCS Central Committee. The 8th LCS Congress instituted a two-year term limits for officeholders.

The office traces its lineage back to the office of "Secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in Serbia", established after the founding of the LCY in 1919. This body had no distinct rights and was under the jurisdiction of the Yugoslav Central Committee. On 8 May 1945, the LCY convened the founding congress of the Communist Party of Serbia. On 12 May, the Central Committee of the 1st Congress elected Blagoje Nešković as "Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Serbia". The LCY 6th Congress on 2–7 November 1952, renamed the party League of Communists, and the Serbian republican branch followed suit and changed its name to League of Communists of Serbia. On 4 October 1966, the 5th Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the LCY 8th Congress abolished the office of General Secretary at the national level and replaced with the office of President. The LCS Central Committee convened a meeting on 4 November 1966 that abolished the office of secretary and established the "President of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Serbia". The reforms passed by the LCY Central Committee plenum strengthened the powers of the republican branches and gave more powers to the Serbian party leader. The 9th LCS Congress introduced another set of reforms on 29 May 1982, which abolished the existing office and replaced it with the "President of the Presidency of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Serbia". This office was retained until 30 June 1990, when the party changed its name to the Socialist Party of Serbia on 17 July 1990.