He was a member of the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
On 20 June 1928, Pernar was one of several Croatian Peasant Party representatives shot at by People's Radical Party representative Puniša Račić.
While Pernar recovered from the gunshot, party leader Stjepan Radić died from the wounds suffered in the attack.
During the subsequent January 6th Dictatorship, Pernar was jailed in Sremska Mitrovica for 3 years.
The Croatian politician, Ivan Pernar (born 1985), is his grandnephew.