Niš (Serbian: Ниш, pronounced [nîːʃ] ( listen)) is the largest city of southern Serbia and the third-largest city in Serbia (after Belgrade and Novi Sad). According to the preliminary results of the 2011 census, the city has an urban population of 182,208 inhabitants, while its municipality has a population of 257,867. The city covers an area of 597 km², including the urban core, town of Niška Banja and 68 suburbs. Niš is the administrative center of the Nišava District.

It is one of the oldest cities in the Balkans and Europe, and has from ancient times been considered a gateway between the East and the West. The Paleo-Balkan Thracians first inhabited the area in the Iron Age, and Triballians dwelled here prior to the Celtic invasion in 279 BC which established the Scordisci as masters of the region. Modern-day Niš was among the cities taken in the Roman conquest in 75 BC. The Romans built the Via Militaris in the 1st century, with Naissus being one of the key towns. Niš is also notable as the birthplace of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman Emperor and the founder of Constantinople, as well as two other Roman emperors, Constantius III and Justin I. It is home to one of Serbia's oldest churches dating to the 4th century AD in the suburb of Mediana.

Aleksandar Vučić (Serbian: Александар Вучић, born 5 March 1970, in Belgrade, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia) is a Serbian politician, former Deputy President and currently the acting President of the Serbian Progressive Party. He is a former secretary-general of the Serbian Radical Party and was President of the Serbian Radical Party's city parliamentary club before joining the Serbian Progressive Party. Besides Serbian, Aleksandar Vučić is fluent in English and has a working knowledge of French and Russian. Vučić is a graduate of the Belgrade Law School. He is married and has two children.

In 1993, Vučić became a member of the Serbian Radical Party and was selected as a representative for the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. Two years later, when 24, Vučić was selected as the party's secretary-general.

On 24 March 1998 Vučić became Serbian minister of information in the government of Mirko Marjanović. His term as a minister will be remembered by his controversial Information Law, which brought high fines for independent journalists, who were against Milošević's regime. During implementation of Vučić's law, Serbian journalists were fined with 24.000.000 Serbian Dinars in total, all foreign TV channels were removed from cable television networks, and re-broadcasting of any foreign Serbian-language service via terrestrial radio and TV channels was forbidden.