National Assembly (Serbia)

Early history

The oldest Serbian national Parliament with extant records was held at Holy Peter and Paul Church in Raška in 11th century. This was earliest recorded as Nemanja Sabor in mediaeval Kingdom of Serbia. It was a Civil-Church-State council in environment of condenation of Bogomilism, asserted as heretical both by Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Serbian Church. After the anathemization by Serbian Church, a votation was drawn up for the Serbian nobility on Bogomil case. Majority decided to condemn, ban and suspend relations.^[3]

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.^[4] 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.^{[‡ 1]} One of the major groups at this point of time, were the conservative Defenders of the Constitution,^[5] who were initially allied with the Karađorđević dynasty.^[6] After the overthrow of Obrenović dynasty in 1842, they held a majority in the parliament.^[7]

Ilija Garašanin, who was one of the members of the conservative group, called for the adoption of a law that would officially form the National Assembly.^[7] This was done in December 1858, when the Saint Andrew's Day Assembly was established.^[8] Its first name was also adopted at the assembly, which was the "Serbian National Assembly".^{[‡ 1]} 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.^{[‡ 1]} The first act regarding MNAs was adopted in 1870.^{[‡ 1]}

President and vice-presidents

By means of majority votes of all deputies, the National Assembly elects the President of the Assembly (speaker) 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 them stands in for them. If the President does not designate any of the vice-presidents to stand in for them, the oldest vice-president shall stand in for them.^[2]

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.^[2] Secretary is not elected from the deputies, and is not a member of the Assembly.

Parliamentary groups

Parliamentary groups 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 recognised 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 lists 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, 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 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 included 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 [had] ceased 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.^[10] 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 organisation 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.^[11]

This system was sometimes criticised. Vesna Pešić, 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.^[12] 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."^[13]

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.^[14]

Since 2000

• List of members of the National Assembly of Serbia, 2001–04
• List of members of the National Assembly of Serbia, 2004–07
• List of members of the National Assembly of Serbia, 2007–08
• List of members of the National Assembly of Serbia, 2008–12
• List of members of the National Assembly of Serbia, 2012–14
• List of members of the National Assembly of Serbia, 2014–16
• List of members of the National Assembly of Serbia, 2016–20
• List of members of the National Assembly of Serbia, 2020–22
• List of members of the National Assembly of Serbia, 2022–24
• 14th National Assembly of Serbia

Acts

Acts passed by the National Assembly are:^[2]

• laws;
• budget;
• development plan;
• spatial plan;
• financial statement;
• Rules of procedure;
• 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.^[2]

Committees

Committees or boards (odbor, pl. odbori) 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.^[2]

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.^[2]

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.^[2]