Opposition files motion to dismiss Sapic with 41 signatures
The request for an extraordinary session was signed by 41 of 110 councillors, four more than the 37 required, and the deadline to schedule it is 15 days, according to the opposition.
Opposition councillors filed a request on October 7 for an extraordinary session of the Belgrade City Assembly, where they would seek the dismissal of Mayor Aleksandar Sapic. The request was signed by 41 of 110 councillors, which is more than the one third required by the Law on the Capital City and the Statute of the City of Belgrade, meaning at least 37 signatures. The figures were announced by Savo Manojlovic, leader of the Kreni-Promeni movement and head of its councillor group.
Who signed the request for an extraordinary session?
Kreni-Promeni councillors provided the most signatures, 21 in all. The other 20 signatories come from the Green-Left Front, the MI movement, the Freedom and Justice Party’s allies in the Movement of Free Citizens, the Democratic Party, the People’s Movement of Serbia, the New Face of Serbia and Ecological Uprising.
Manojlovic said the condition for scheduling the session has been met and thanked all the councillors who backed the request:
“We have officially filed the request for an extraordinary session at which we are seeking the dismissal of Aleksandar Sapic. We collected the signatures of 41 councillors, which fulfills the condition for scheduling an extraordinary session. The Assembly Speaker is obliged to schedule the session within 15 days.”
Under the rules cited by BBC News in Serbian, a session requested by councillors is scheduled by the City Assembly Speaker no later than 15 days after the request is filed. Counted from October 7, that deadline expires on October 22. The Assembly is chaired by Nikola Nikodijevic of the Socialist Party of Serbia.
What led to the request?
The trigger is an accusation by Kreni-Promeni councillor Tatjana Micic, who claims Sapic hit her last week while she was walking her dog with her husband on Bezanijska Kosa. Sapic denies it. The Third Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade questioned both him and Micic, and according to BBC reporting, Sapic was questioned as a suspect. The mayor said his biggest mistake was not walking away and avoiding the incident, but he flatly ruled out resigning.
At the regular session on October 6, the ruling majority rejected a Kreni-Promeni proposal about Sapic. N1 reports that the proposal concerned a debate on removing the mayor, while BBC News in Serbian says it sought condemnation of his conduct. Kreni-Promeni councillors then walked out of the session. Sapic did not attend. Marina Pavlic of Kreni-Promeni addressed the councillors from the podium at the time:
“We demand Sapic’s irrevocable resignation, everything else is just torment.”
Manojlovic said from the same podium that it “has become commonplace for blood to be spilled, often someone else’s, now by the hand of Aleksandar Sapic.” He added: “That line in politics should never have been crossed.” He told reporters in the Assembly lobby that Sapic “cannot be the mayor of this city.”
How many votes are needed for dismissal?
A decision to dismiss requires a majority of all councillors, meaning at least 56 of 110. With 41 signatures, the opposition is 15 votes short of that number. The majority in the City Assembly is held by the coalition of the Serbian Progressive Party and the Socialist Party of Serbia, and that majority rejected putting a debate on Sapic on the agenda at all a day earlier.
Sapic’s current four-year term began in June 2024. A response from Aleksandar Sapic or the Serbian Progressive Party to the filed request had not been published in the media we reviewed.
