Student List: Cabinet Ministers Not Yet Named
Academician Radomir Saicic and Faculty of Philosophy professors say the cabinet line-up is not agreed. Deadlines depend on the constitutive session, which Ana Brnabic convenes.
The names of the Student List’s future ministers are not yet known, and the Student Movement and the candidates on the list will decide them together. That is what academician Radomir Saicic, a parliamentary candidate on the Students Win Student List, told the daily Danas. N1 also carried his statement.
What does Saicic say about the new cabinet?
Saicic declined to discuss names in advance, explaining that the arrangements are not finished.
“You know how it is, I cannot, unfortunately, tell you anything about that in advance. You will be informed at the same time as everyone else, when the Student Movement and the Student List issue a joint statement.”
Asked whether talks on the government had already begun, he said they had been discussed for some time. He added that nobody is waiting until the last moment: “We are considering it, it’s not like we’re waiting to fatten the pig for Christmas.” According to him, talks on what exactly will happen are still under way, and the situation is unusual because “never in history have students and the student-people’s movement produced a victory like this.”
Sources from the Student List told Danas that talks have been going on for a while and that there are no final decisions. The aim, they say, is not to run the process up against the legal limits, but also not to rush the job. The order is clear, they say: first the Serbian National Assembly is constituted, then the government is elected.
Oliver Toskovic, a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, said the same. He told Danas briefly that the process is under way:
“The process is under way, we have general principles, we are adopting procedures, the names are not known yet because everything is in progress. Everything will certainly be finished on time, as it was with the list and it being ready.”
Toskovic added that he has no more precise information to share at this point.
Who has more candidates, and how many doctors of science are on the list?
Aleksandar Baucel, a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, told Danas that the make-up of the cabinet will differ from the previous one: “The government will certainly be made up of more competent and more accountable people than the previous government. For every post there are several good candidates.” In his words, what matters more than the names of those who take the most visible posts is that every sector has a large team carrying out the list’s program, not just a minister.
Danas’s sources say the list includes more than 140 doctors of science and that choosing ministers will therefore not be a problem. That is their assessment, not a figure the list has published.
Who convenes the Assembly, and which deadlines apply?
The constitutive session is the first step, and the Student List does not set its date. Saicic said so openly:
“The constitutive session of the Serbian parliament can be convened very quickly, but that does not depend on us.”
The Assembly is convened by Ana Brnabic, Saicic added, and the list’s candidates will attend whenever the session is scheduled. David Krstic, a member of the Republic Electoral Commission, said final election results are expected no later than the beginning of next week, after which the deadlines begin for allocating parliamentary seats and constituting the new Assembly. The constitutive session, Krstic said, could be held by December 10 at the latest.
From that moment a 90-day period runs for electing the government. The President of the Republic proposes the candidate for prime minister after hearing the views of representatives of the elected lists. Under the Constitution, the prime minister-designate and ministers do not have to be members of parliament, or even candidates on the electoral lists, which makes it possible for experts from outside the list to join the cabinet.
If the Assembly fails to elect a government within 90 days, the Constitution requires it to be dissolved, and new elections must be completed within 60 days of being called. The Student List won a decisive majority, so it does not need to form a coalition to put a government together.
What has been announced for 2 p.m.?
The Students Win Student List has announced a press conference for November 4 at 2 p.m., at the “Miljenko Dereta” space in Belgrade. The invitation to newsrooms does not give a topic, Danas reports. Alongside the announcement, the list’s social media accounts posted a photo illustration showing the buildings of the National Bank of Serbia, Elektroprivreda Srbije and Naftna industrija Srbije. Whether the conference will address the make-up of the government is not clear from the announcement.
