unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

deputies A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for e ...

secret ballot The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vo ...

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

National Bank of Serbia The National Bank of Serbia ( sr, Народна банка Србије, Narodna banka Srbije) is the central bank of Serbia. Founded in 1884, the responsibilities of the bank are: monetary policy, sole issuer of Serbian banknotes and coins, ...

majority vote A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-WebsterInformer
(This text is in the public domain as the official material of the Republic of Serbia state body or a body performing public functions, under the terms of Article 6, Paragraph 2 of Serbian copyright law) The assembly convenes in the House of the National Assembly in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

.

History

Early history

From the beginning of the 19th century, National Assembly sessions were called by Serbian monarchs. Sessions were also held during the First and Second Serbian Uprising. The members were not elected, but rather appointed by the monarch, and sessions were usually held in open space, in which a couple of thousand members could participate. One of the major groups at this point of time, were the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Defenders of the Constitution, who were initially allied with the

Karađorđević dynasty The Karađorđević dynasty ( sr-Cyrl, Динасија Карађорђевић, Dinasija Karađorđević, Карађорђевићи / Karađorđevići, ) or House of Karađorđević ( sr-Cyrl, Кућа Карађорђевић, Kuća Karađ ...

. After the overthrow of Obrenović dynasty in 1842, they held a majority in the parliament. Ilija Garašanin, who was one of the members of the

conservative group da, Den Konservative Gruppe no, Den konservative gruppen is, Flokkahópur hægrimanna , logo = Logo of the Conservative Group.png , colorcode = , headquarters = Christiansborg DK-1240 København K , chairman = ...

, called for the adoption of a law that would officially form the National Assembly. This was done in December 1858, when the Saint Andrew's Day Assembly was established. Its first name was also adopted at the assembly, which was the "Serbian National Assembly". After the adoption, sessions were initially held every three years, although this was later changed over the time, and later sessions were either held once a year, or once every three or four years. The first law regarding MPs was adopted in 1870.

Competencies

The competencies the National Assembly are defined by the

Constitution of Serbia The current Constitution of the Republic of Serbia ( sr, / ), also known as Mitrovdan Constitution ( sr, / ) was adopted in 2006, replacing the previous constitution dating from 1990. The adoption of new constitution became necessary in 2006 ...

, articles 98–110: * adopts and amends the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

; * decides on changes concerning the borders of Serbia; * calls for the national

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

; * ratifies international contracts when the obligation of their ratification is stipulated by the Law; * decides on war and peace and declares state of war or emergency; * supervises the work of security services; * enacts laws and other general acts; * gives prior consent to the Statute of the autonomous province; * adopts defense strategy; * adopts development plan and spatial plan; * adopts the budget and end-of-year balance, at the government’s proposal; * grants amnesty for criminal offenses. * elects the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

, supervises its work and decides on expiry of term of office of the government and ministers; * appoints and dismisses the Governor of the

National Bank of Serbia The National Bank of Serbia ( sr, Народна банка Србије, Narodna banka Srbije) is the central bank of Serbia. Founded in 1884, the responsibilities of the bank are: monetary policy, sole issuer of Serbian banknotes and coins, ...

and supervises their work; * appoints and dismisses other officials stipulated by the Law. Performs other functions stipulated by the Constitution and Law.

Elections

Parliamentary elections are regulated by the Constitution. The elections are held after the four-year term of the previous assembly has expired, but can also be held before that if the Assembly dismisses the Government or the Government resigns and no majority can be reached to elect a new Government. Elections are called by the

President of Serbia The president of Serbia ( sr, Председник Србије, Predsednik Srbije), officially styled as the President of the Republic ( sr, Председник Републике, Predsednik Republike) is the head of state of Serbia. The cu ...

90 days before the end of the term of office of the National Assembly, so that elections are finished within the following 60 days. Elections are closed party-list proportional. The whole country is one electoral district. 250 seats are then distributed between the lists using

d'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highes ...

. There is a minimum voting threshold of 3% so that only the party lists which get more than 3% of the votes are awarded the seats. There is no threshold for the ethnic minority lists. After the elections, the first session of the new Assembly is convened by the Speaker from the previous convocation, so that the session is held not later than 30 days from the day of declaring the final election results.

Deputies

The assembly is composed of 250

deputies A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for e ...

. At least 30% of the deputies are women. Deputies may not hold dual functions which represent a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

. Deputies enjoy

parliamentary immunity Parliamentary immunity, also known as legislative immunity, is a system in which politicians such as president, vice president, governor, lieutenant governor, member of parliament, member of legislative assembly, member of legislative council, s ...

.

President and vice-presidents

By means of

majority vote A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

) and one or more Vice-Presidents (deputy speakers), usually one vice-president from each parliamentary group. The President of the National Assembly represents the National Assembly, convokes its sessions, presides over them and performs other official activities. The vice-presidents assist the President in performing the duties within their purview. In case the President is temporarily absent, one of the Vice-Presidents designated by him/her stands in for him/her. If the President does not designate any of the Vice-Presidents to stand in for him/her, the oldest Vice-President shall stand in for him/her. The Secretary of the National Assembly is appointed by the National Assembly. Secretary of the National Assembly assists the President and Vice-Presidents in preparing and chairing sittings. Their term of office is terminated upon the constitution of a newly elected National Assembly, while they shall continue discharging their duties until the appointment of a new Secretary. Secretary is not elected from the deputies, and is not a member of the Assembly.

Parliamentary groups

Parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliame ...

s in the National Assembly must be formed no later than seven days following the election of the President. Any grouping of five or more deputies can be officially recognized as a parliamentary group, with each deputy permitted to be members of only a single group at any one time. Although groups are mostly based on

electoral list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

s from the previous election to the Assembly, groups are often a diverse collection of different parties as well as independents. This is due to Serbia's complex

multi-party system In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in ...

, with many parties having a presence in the legislature; parties with similar ideology, but low representation, are therefore inclined to cooperate and form joint parliamentary groups together in order to secure more privileges they would otherwise not be entitled to, such as additional speaking time and committee assignments. An example of such a group includes the LDP- LSV- SDA group. The parliamentary groups are each led by a president, who are usually assisted by a number of vice presidents; it is common practice for heterogeneous groups (i.e. ones which comprise two or more parties) to have a vice president from the junior party in the group. The presidents of the groups regularly meet with the President of the Assembly to discuss and arrange the agenda for future meetings.

Vacancies and replacements

Serbia's Law on the Election of Representatives (2000) initially indicated that, if an elected representative's mandate ended before the dissolution of the assembly, the right to fill the vacant position would "belong to the political party on whose electoral list the representative whose mandate adceased was elected," and a new parliamentary mandate would be awarded to a candidate from the relevant party's electoral list who did not win a mandate in the general election. The law did not specify that the mandate would fall sequentially to the next candidate on the list who did not win a mandate. In addition, elected representatives whose party memberships were terminated or whose names were struck from the register of their party (or the political organization on whose list they were elected) were automatically deemed to have their assembly mandates terminated; this latter provision was rescinded by a constitutional court decision in 2003. This system was sometimes criticized.

Vesna Pešić Vesna Pešić ( sr-Cyrl, Весна Пешић, ; born May 6, 1940) is a Serbian politician and sociologist. In February 2012, Vesna Pešić announced she would leave politics after parliamentary elections on 6 May 2012. Biography In the early ...

, for many years a prominent opposition figure in Serbia, noted in 2007 that it permitted party leaders to determine which candidates would enter parliament following elections, irrespective of where the candidates were placed on the lists. Pešić also stated that, after the 2003 constitutional court decision, members who entered the assembly were often required by their parties to sign blank resignation letters, by which means they could be expelled from parliament if they dissented from a party position. She argued that this led to corrupt practices, sometimes involving the misuse of assembly mandates to either keep governments in office or seek their overthrow. Daniel Bochsler, in a 2010 essay on Serbia's political system, also noted that the system gave party leaders significant control over individual mandates, although he added that the system of requiring blank resignation letters was "more understandable if we take into account that party switches are very common in post-communist legislatures, and not only in Serbia." The law was reformed in 2011, to clarify that vacant mandates would be "awarded to the first candidate from the same electoral list who was not awarded a mandate" and that, in the event of a resignation of a member elected on a coalition list, the vacant mandate would fall to the first candidate on the list from the same party who was not awarded a mandate. It also established a provision for the return to parliament of members who resigned during the same convocation to take a position in government, and it stipulated that members would be required to submit resignation letters in person.Law on the Election of Members of the Parliament (2000, as amended 2011) (Articles 88 & 92) made available vi
LegislationOnline
accessed 28 February 2017.

Since 2000

List of presidents

*2007 (acting): Borka Vučić *May 2007 (acting):

Tomislav Nikolić Tomislav Nikolić ( sr-Cyrl, Томислав Николић, ; born 15 February 1952) is a Serbian retired politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2012 to 2017. A former member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS), he di ...

*2007 (acting) Milutin Mrkonjić *2007–2008: Oliver Dulić *2008–2012: Slavica Đukić Dejanović *2012–2014: Nebojša Stefanović *2014–2020: Maja Gojković *2020–2022: Ivica Dačić *2022 (acting)

Vladeta Janković Vladeta Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Владета Јанковић; born 1 September 1940) is a Serbian politician. A former member of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), Janković previously served as the Yugoslav ambassador to the United Kingdom f ...

*2022–present: Vladimir Orlić

Sessions

The first session of the new Assembly is convened by the Assembly Speaker from the previous convocation. The first sitting of the National Assembly is chaired by the oldest deputy. They are assisted in their work by the youngest deputy from each of the four party lists that polled the largest number of seats, and by the Secretary of the Assembly from the previous convocation. At the first sitting of the National Assembly, the President of the Assembly, Vice-Presidents, and the members of the working bodies of the National Assembly are elected and the Secretary of the National Assembly is appointed. The National Assembly is convoked for two regular sessions per year, starting on the first workdays of March and October. The Assembly is convoked for extraordinary session at the request of at least one-third of the deputies or the request of the Government, with previously determined agenda. The National Assembly can be convoked without an announcement upon the declaration of the state of war or emergency. The proposed agenda for a National Assembly sitting is prepared by the president. A

quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to '' Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the ...

for the work of the National Assembly exists if a minimum of one-third of deputies are present at the National Assembly sitting. The quorum for the work of the National Assembly on Voting Days exists if at least 126 deputies are present at the sitting. The right to propose laws, other regulations and general acts belongs to every deputy, the government, assemblies of autonomous provinces or at least 30,000 voters. The

Ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

and

National Bank of Serbia The National Bank of Serbia ( sr, Народна банка Србије, Narodna banka Srbije) is the central bank of Serbia. Founded in 1884, the responsibilities of the bank are: monetary policy, sole issuer of Serbian banknotes and coins, ...

also have the right to propose laws falling within their competence. Upon the request of the majority of all deputies or at least 100,000 voters, the National Assembly may call a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

on issues falling within its competence. Beograd 10038 parl old yugoslavia chamber

The National Assembly adopts decisions by

majority vote A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster laws Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...

; *

budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environme ...

; * development plan; * spatial plan; *

financial statement Financial statements (or financial reports) are formal records of the financial activities and position of a business, person, or other entity. Relevant financial information is presented in a structured manner and in a form which is easy to un ...

; *

Rules of procedure Parliamentary procedure is the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Its object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization and thus to arrive at the sense or ...

; * declarations; * resolutions; * recommendations; * decisions; * conclusions; and * authentic interpretations of the acts it passes. The Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly of Serbia regulate the organisation and work of the National Assembly and the manner in which the deputies’ rights and duties are exercised.

Committees

Committees or boards (''odbor'', ) are standing working bodies of the National Assembly established to consider and review issues falling within the purview of the National Assembly, to propose official documents, as well as to carry out reviews of policies pursued, and laws, by-laws and other regulations implemented by the Government, to be done by each Committee for the field that falls within its purview; and also to perform other duties foreseen by the Rules of Procedure. There are 30 standing Committees, and each Committee may, from its midst, appoint one or more sub-committees to consider certain issues from its purview. Before being considered by the National Assembly, a bill is considered by competent Committees and the Government, if it is not the submitter of the bill. In their opinion, the Committees and the Government may propose that the National Assembly accept or reject the bill. Parliamentary Groups nominate members for each Committee proportionally to the number of deputies they have at the National Assembly. The proposed candidate list for Committee members is voted on as a unit, by open voting.

Building

The national assembly convenes in the House of the National Assembly building, located on Nikola Pašić Square in downtown

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

.

Composition

Leadership

*President (

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

): Vladimir Orlić *Secretary general: Srđan Smiljanić

Members

References

Primary sources

In the text these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):

Notes

External links

*
The National Assembly Artwork
{{Coord, 44.8113, N, 20.4658, E, source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Politics of Serbia Government of Serbia

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...