Who Is Nemanja Šarović?

Nemanja Šarović is a Serbian politician, lawyer and television host, born in Belgrade in 1974. For many years he was one of the more prominent officials of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), on whose behalf he served several terms as a member of the National Assembly of Serbia and, for a time, as head of its councillors’ group in the Belgrade City Assembly.

He left the SRS in July 2020, and in September of the same year he presented the “Love, Faith, Hope” movement, of which he is president. Since 2023 he has worked as a host and reporter for Zrenjanin’s KTV television, where he gained wide popularity through his conversations with attendees at Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) rallies. This biography follows his path from his first steps in politics to the events ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for 25 October 2026.

Early Life and Childhood

Šarović was born on 28 December 1974 in Belgrade, which at the time was part of the Socialist Republic of Serbia within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Information about his parents and early childhood is not available in reliable public sources, so it is not included in this biography. It is known that he was educated in Belgrade, where he still lives.

Education

Nemanja Šarović graduated from the First Belgrade Gymnasium. He then graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law and earned a law degree.

Before entering politics he worked at a well-known Belgrade law firm and then at the First Municipal Court in Belgrade. Sources differ on how long he worked there: some say three years, others two and a half.

Beginning of Political Career in the Serbian Radical Party

Šarović joined the Serbian Radical Party as a young man. According to available information, he has been a party member since 1997, when the party was led by Dr. Vojislav Šešelj.

His first major electoral challenge came in 2000. He led the SRS list in Belgrade’s Palilula municipality in the federal parliamentary elections but was not elected, because the party won no seats in that electoral unit. At the same time he ran for the Belgrade City Assembly and the Stari Grad municipal assembly, and was defeated at both levels. Those elections were overshadowed by the presidential election in which Slobodan Milošević lost to Vojislav Koštunica.

In the extraordinary republic-level elections of December 2000, Šarović was 81st on the SRS list. The party won 23 seats, so he did not receive a parliamentary mandate. During this period he led the SRS municipal board in Stari Grad.

Rise in the SRS and First Parliamentary Terms

In the parliamentary elections of December 2003, Šarović was 85th on the Radicals’ list, which won 82 seats. He was not in the party’s original parliamentary group, but he received a mandate on 12 February 2004 as a replacement for an MP who had resigned. Although the Radicals were the strongest party in parliament, they remained in opposition. In that term he served on the Legislative Committee and the Committee on Justice and Administration.

In the 2004 local elections he led the SRS list in Stari Grad and was elected a councillor, as the list won nine of 56 seats. According to the newspaper Danas, that same year he was elected to the SRS Presidential Collegium and Central Homeland Administration, and he also became president of the party’s City Board in Belgrade.

The media wrote a great deal about him in 2005, when it was reported that he had claimed 1,639,088 dinars in travel expenses between Belgrade and Vranje, where he worked as an SRS organizer, even though he lived in Belgrade.

In the parliamentary elections of January 2007 he was 21st on the SRS list, which won 81 seats, and he joined the party’s parliamentary group. In that term he served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Economic Reforms and the Administrative Committee. According to Danas, in January 2008, during the election campaign, he was attacked by unknown persons, and Šarović stated that the attack was politically motivated.

The SRS Split and Leadership of the City Assembly Group

In the 2008 elections Šarović was tenth on the SRS list, which won 78 seats, and he also appeared on the party’s lists for the Belgrade City Assembly and the Stari Grad municipality. He was an SRS negotiator in talks on forming the city government with the Democratic Party of Serbia and the Socialist Party of Serbia. According to Danas, had the SRS taken power in Belgrade, he would have been chosen as city manager. The Socialists instead opted for a coalition with the Democratic Party, so the Radicals remained in opposition.

In July 2008 he led a protest march in Belgrade’s Voždovac municipality against the arrest of Radovan Karadžić.

At the end of 2008 the SRS went through a major split. Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić left the party and founded the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). Šarović stayed in the SRS and was a vocal critic of the new party. He received a mandate in the Belgrade City Assembly on 16 September 2008, and at that point took over from Vučić as chair of the SRS councillors’ group. He also ran to succeed Vučić as the party’s secretary-general but lost to Elena Božić Talijan.

He returned to the National Assembly on 28 December 2009, after Elena Božić Talijan’s resignation. In that term, which lasted until 31 May 2012, he was a member of the Committee on Kosovo and Metohija and part of Serbia’s delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Danas writes that before the split he was seen as a member of the party’s harder, Šešelj-aligned core, and later as a representative of a more reform-minded wing of the SRS.

Relationship with Vojislav Šešelj and The Hague

While Vojislav Šešelj was on trial before the Hague Tribunal, Šarović was one of his advisers. On one occasion the Tribunal barred Šešelj from meeting Šarović, explaining that such meetings were being used to pass on political instructions in an unauthorized way.

In 2014 the Tribunal allowed Šešelj to return to Serbia for health reasons while the trial was still under way. Šarović then stated that Šešelj would not return to The Hague voluntarily. In 2018 the Tribunal convicted Šešelj in absentia and sentenced him to ten years for inciting war crimes through speeches made in 1992, but he did not have to serve the sentence, as he had already spent more than ten years in custody. When some MPs demanded that Šešelj be stripped of his mandate, Šarović argued that there was no legal basis for it.

In May 2022, Šešelj received a summons from the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals over the publication of classified information and the names of protected witnesses. The names of seven current and former Radical officials, including Šarović, also appeared on the summons. He stated that he recognizes only the laws of Serbia and would not comply. He was not included in the indictment the court issued on 11 August 2023.

Elections 2012–2016 and Return to the Assembly

In the 2012 parliamentary elections Šarović was fourth on the SRS list, and in 2014 he was moved up to second place. He also led the party’s list for the Belgrade City Assembly and the Stari Grad municipality in the 2012 local elections, and in 2014 he was second on the city list. In both 2012 and 2014 he was the Radicals’ candidate for mayor of Belgrade. In all of those elections the SRS remained below the threshold.

The Radicals returned to parliament in the 2016 elections, winning 22 seats. Šarović was again second on the list and was elected an MP for the fourth time. His mandate ran from 3 June 2016 to 3 August 2020. After the elections, together with Nataša Jovanović, he represented the SRS in consultations with President Tomislav Nikolić on forming a government. The Radical delegation asked Nikolić to resign, and according to media reports the meeting lasted about thirty seconds.

In the 2016–2020 parliament he was a member of the Administrative Committee and the Committee on Health and the Family, a deputy member of the Committee on Constitutional and Legislative Issues, the Committee on the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region and the Committee on Kosovo and Metohija, a deputy member of Serbia’s delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (where Serbia has observer status), and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with China, Greece, Russia and Venezuela.

Political Views and Controversies

Kosovo and the Brussels Agreement

Šarović opposes recognition of Kosovo’s independence. In 2013 he led protests against the negotiations that produced the Brussels Agreement. At one protest he accused then-President Nikolić of treason. After the agreement was signed, Aleksandar Vučić, then deputy prime minister, stated that Šarović had sent him threatening messages from his personal phone. In a 2024 statement, Šarović claimed that Vučić had done more for an independent Kosovo than Hashim Thaçi and Albin Kurti.

The European Union and NATO

In a 2006 interview with the Mexican newspaper Reforma, he said the SRS was not against joining the European Union in principle, but that the party would not accept losing Kosovo as the price. Later he spoke out against Serbia’s EU membership. He also opposes NATO, and in 2013 he took part in burning a NATO flag in Belgrade.

Statements About Srebrenica

After the arrest of Ratko Mladić in 2011, Šarović, according to a report by the Lusa agency, described the victims in Srebrenica as casualties of war and expressed his belief that Mladić was innocent. The International Court of Justice and the Hague Tribunal have ruled that genocide was committed in Srebrenica in 1995.

Flag Burning and Court Proceedings

In 2016 Šarović was convicted of burning a flag of the United States of America and received a suspended sentence. Radio-Television of Vojvodina had earlier reported that he was questioned over the burning of the flags of the US, the European Union, NATO and Kosovo.

Departure from the SRS

In the 2020 parliamentary elections Šarović was seventh on the SRS list, which did not clear the electoral threshold. He left the party on 16 July 2020, citing fundamental disagreement with Vojislav Šešelj both over the party’s direction and over the political situation in Serbia. In a letter to party members he said it was only fair that he withdraw from the organization Šešelj had founded. Politika reported that at the time of his departure he was deputy president of the SRS.

He later accused Šešelj of not being critical enough of the SNS-led government and rejected the possibility of joining the Progressives.

The “Love, Faith, Hope” Movement

Šarović presented the “Love, Faith, Hope” movement in September 2020, together with retired General Božidar Delić, a former SRS and SNS official. Šarović became president and Delić deputy president. He explained the movement’s name as reflecting universal Christian virtues which, in his view, society and the state need. He named Aleksandar Vučić as the movement’s main political opponent and announced that it would cooperate only with citizens, not with other parties and movements.

Delić left the movement in January 2022 and founded a new organization, “There’s No Going Back – Serbia Is Behind.” Šarović remained at the head of “Love, Faith, Hope.”

Elections 2022–2024

The movement did not take part in the 2022 parliamentary elections, but it ran independently in that year’s Belgrade elections with the list “Nemanja Šarović – For the Whole Normal World.” Šarović was the list leader and candidate for mayor. The Republic Election Commission certified the list with 50 candidates. Šarović explained that he was running alone because he wanted to avoid “political mud and political trade.” The list did not clear the electoral threshold.

In November 2023 he announced that the movement would not take part in the Belgrade elections, explaining that obstruction by the authorities had prevented him from registering. The movement did not take part in the 2024 Belgrade elections either, and Šarović called on smaller opposition movements to withdraw to avoid splitting the vote.

Journalism at KTV Television

Since 2023, Šarović has been reporting for the opposition television station KTV from Zrenjanin, which he has called “the only free television in Serbia.” He is recognizable for attending SNS rallies and talking with their participants. In May 2023 he spent about five hours reporting from a counter-rally in Belgrade, and his conversations with attendees at the Progressive rally in Jagodina on 28 January 2025 went viral the same day.

The weekly Vreme writes that the recording “Nemanja kod ćacija UŽIVO” was watched online by about seven hundred thousand people. Šarović said he feels sorry for the people he talks to and considers them victims of media manipulation. His KTV colleague Aleksandar Dikić assessed that audiences like Šarović’s integrity. On the other hand, some critical journalists wonder whether he is a journalist or still a politician touring the former Radical electorate.

Miroslav Parović, president of the People’s Freedom Movement, assessed that Šarović fits the profile of a presidential candidate, which Šarović commented on by saying he had not even seen it.

Detentions and Attacks in 2025

On 8 March 2025 police detained Šarović in Belgrade’s Pionirski Park, where he was reporting from a camp of SNS supporters, for “disturbing public order and peace.” He was released the same day. Šarović maintained that he had not broken any law. He was detained again on 14 March 2025.

Šarović and the KTV crew were physically attacked on 12 April 2025 while he was reporting from an SNS rally outside the National Assembly.

The 2026 Elections

On 11 September 2026 the “Love, Faith, Hope” movement announced that it would support the Student List in the extraordinary parliamentary elections scheduled for 25 October. Šarović called on opposition actors to prevent the splitting of votes. During the campaign he publicly invited Aleksandar Vučić, the lead candidate of the “United Serbia” list, to appear live on his KTV show.

On 11 October 2026 police prevented the KTV crew from reporting from an SNS pre-election rally in Zrenjanin. According to a statement from the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), police officers physically pushed back the crew, and Šarović spoke during the live broadcast about being struck. On 12 October, ANEM reported to the High-Tech Crime Prosecutor’s Office a threat of serious violence directed at Šarović.

Personal Life

In 2011 Šarović married Aleksandra Ilić, a New Serbia MP, with whom he has a son. The marriage ended in 2013, partly because of political differences. In 2017 he married Katarina Odalović, with whom he has two children. According to available sources he has three children in total. Sources differ on his current marital status: English-language Wikipedia reports a divorce in 2021, while Danas described him as married in 2025. He lives in Belgrade.

Interesting Facts

• He is a lawyer by training and worked in a law firm and in a court before entering politics.
• In March 2021 he published a photograph from Belgrade’s Lešće cemetery, of the place where Vladimir Cvijan is buried, about whose fate nothing had been known until then.
• N1 columnist Draža Petrović devoted a column to him, and Danas earlier published a column about him over which Šarović filed a complaint with the Press Council.
• He is the first known journalist here to be detained in front of live cameras, with a six-hour uninterrupted broadcast carried on by his colleague.

Legacy and Influence

Nemanja Šarović is remembered as a politician whose public influence changed after he left the SRS. His movement has not had electoral success, but as a KTV reporter Šarović gained great popularity. Vreme writes that people of different political persuasions greet him, while assessments of his work remain divided: some see him as a journalist who exposes those in power, others still as a politician. What remains a fact is that in the 2026 campaign he supported the Student List.

Biography – Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Nemanja Šarović?

Nemanja Šarović is a Serbian politician, lawyer and television host, president of the “Love, Faith, Hope” movement and a longtime MP of the Serbian Radical Party.

When and where was Nemanja Šarović born?

He was born in Belgrade in 1974. English-language Wikipedia gives the date as 28 December 1974, but sources differ on the exact date.

What did Nemanja Šarović study?

He graduated from the First Belgrade Gymnasium and the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law.

How many times was Nemanja Šarović a member of parliament?

According to available information, he served four terms: from 2004 to 2008, from 2009 to 2012 and from 2016 to 2020.

Why did Nemanja Šarović leave the SRS?

He left the party on 16 July 2020 because of fundamental disagreement with Vojislav Šešelj over the party’s direction and the political situation in Serbia.

What is the “Love, Faith, Hope” movement?

It is a political movement that Šarović presented in September 2020, together with General Božidar Delić. Šarović is the movement’s president.

What does Nemanja Šarović do at KTV television?

He is a host and reporter at Zrenjanin’s KTV television, and is known for his conversations with attendees at SNS rallies.

Has Nemanja Šarović been detained?

Yes. Police detained him on 8 March 2025 in Pionirski Park and again on 14 March 2025.

What are Nemanja Šarović’s political views?

He is right-wing, opposes recognition of Kosovo, Serbia’s EU membership and NATO, and names Aleksandar Vučić as his main political opponent.

Whom does Nemanja Šarović support in the 2026 elections?

His movement announced on 11 September 2026 that it would support the Student List in the elections on 25 October.

Conclusion

Nemanja Šarović’s career spans two decades in the Serbian Radical Party, several parliamentary terms, his departure from the party in 2020 and the founding of the “Love, Faith, Hope” movement. In recent years he has been mentioned most often as a host and reporter at KTV television. The biography of Nemanja Šarović shows a politician who has changed roles and remains the subject of differing public assessments.