Istvan Pastor, speaker of the assembly in Serbia’s northern Vojvodina province, has died. Ethnic Hungarians make up 2.8 per cent of the population of Serbia and both Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán have expressed condolences after the head of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians party and veteran leader of Serbia’s Hungarian minority passed away at 68 years of age. Pastor was serving his third term as president of the assembly in Vojvodina.
“Pastor was always ready to take on and share the responsibility and concern for solving every challenge in the difficult times of our common struggle for a better Serbia. More than many others, he contributed to the progress of the country, its economic improvement and the friendship between Serbia and Hungary,” said Vucic. “He was a great man, an honourable politician, and a friend.”
Pastor was born in 1956 in Majdan, Serbia, and graduated from Novi Sad University’s Faculty of Law in 1980. He served as a municipal assembly member in Subotica and as an MP in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He was also a member of the interim national council representing Serbia’s Hungarian minority and served as the Vojvodina provincial secretary for privatisation, entrepreneurship, and small and medium enterprises.
Writing on Facebook Orbán said of Pastor: “he followed the path of a warrior. Rest in peace.”
