Ivan Stambolić was a Serbian politician who served as the president of the League of Communists of Serbia (SKS) from 1984 to 1986. A prominent member of SKS, he also served as prime minister of Serbia from 1978 to 1982 and as president of Serbia from 1986 to 1987.

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.