Soskic: Student List Has Agreed on Parliament Speaker

Dejan Soskic, a former governor of the National Bank of Serbia and a parliamentary candidate on the “Student List - Students Win” slate, said on Sunday evening, November 8, on N1’s “Utisak nedelje” that the students have agreed on who will be Speaker of the National Assembly. The name will not come from the candidates themselves but from the student movement. The same day, Ana Brnabic, the outgoing Speaker and acting President of the Republic, claimed on TV Pink that nobody from the Student List had contacted parliamentary staff about preparations for the first session of the new assembly.

The candidate’s name has not been made public. The available sources also contain no response from the Student List to Brnabic’s claim that no one made contact.

What did Soskic say about the Speaker?

According to Soskic, things speed up once parliament is constituted: parliamentary committees are formed first, then the Serbian government, and the whole process is meant to end with presidential elections by the end of the year. He described the relationship between the students and the future MPs this way:

“The students know that this group of elected people from the student list who will enter Parliament becomes the owner of the mandates under the letter of the law, and decides independently. We will enter a normal political process.”

Soskic added that the future MPs are in constant contact and are learning how parliament works, including its rules of procedure and practices from other countries.

Who decides on the candidate, and how far has the choice gone?

Mirjana Nikolic, rector of the University of Arts in Belgrade and a future MP on the list, told FoNet that the group is waiting for decisions from student bodies, which coordinate across all university centers in the country. List representatives, she said, will not challenge those decisions, but the proposed candidate has to accept the nomination. The proposal is submitted with the person’s consent:

“If they propose a particular person for Speaker of the Assembly, one of the documents that the proposed Speaker has to submit is a consent form.”

Nikolic added: “We are not a party system where students now say: ‘You must do this.’” By her account, the future MPs have already held a meeting on constituting parliament, and she expects “this to be the most watched inaugural session practically since parliament has existed, because public expectations are high.”

Aleksandar Baucal, the 101st candidate on the list that won 140 seats, described the situation differently from Soskic. He told FoNet that talks on the new Speaker are in their final phase and that discussions are still under way. Kurir carried his statement on readiness:

“We are almost ready for all of it, and by November 17 we will be fully ready and there will be no surprises.”

Baucal called the presidential elections, which have not yet been scheduled, a sign of the irresponsibility of the current authorities. He also said the conduct of the “United Serbia” MPs at the session will show whether they are interested in being a constructive opposition. The Student List is currently forming teams by sector, and on the question of posts he said: “What matters most is that change happens, not whose name is on some post. As in a football national team, what matters is that we win, and it matters less who scores the goal.”

List candidate Miroslav Andric told Insajder: “Honestly, I expect the atmosphere to be better than it was.”

What does Brnabic claim about dialogue before the session?

On “Hit Tvit,” Brnabic said that since 2012, when the Serbian Progressive Party won, it has been the practice for the ruling majority to offer the opposition deputy speaker seats and the chairing of certain committees before the inaugural session. Whether there would be five or six deputy speakers depended on that.

“Until now the ruling majority has always offered deputy speaker posts to the opposition, and depending on the various opposition groups it was decided whether there would be five or six deputy speakers, that was mostly how it went, but this needs to be discussed before the inaugural session.”

She named foreign affairs and European integration as examples of committees led by the opposition: “But all of that always happened in dialogue before the first inaugural session. This is the first time that no one from the Student List has tried at all to get in touch with the staff or with me so we can talk.” She urged list representatives to get in touch during the coming week. “If they do not, it will certainly be the first time such a dialogue did not take place,” Brnabic said.

Earlier the same day, the Student List posted on X only that it is ready for the session: “Inaugural session of the National Assembly on November 17. We are ready.” It also said it has personnel solutions prepared. No concrete reply to the invitation made on “Hit Tvit” has been published.

What is the situation in parliament ahead of November 17?

Brnabic has scheduled the inaugural session for Tuesday, November 17, at 10 a.m. The agenda has six items: confirming mandates, electing the Speaker and deputy speakers, electing the secretary general, and electing working bodies and standing delegations to international institutions. Until the Speaker is elected, the session is chaired by the oldest MP, Professor Stojan Radenovic of the “United Serbia” list.

According to the final results of the Republic Electoral Commission for the October 25 elections, the Student List holds 140 of 250 seats and Aleksandar Vucic’s “United Serbia” list holds 103. The Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians and the Albanian Coalition have two MPs each, and three lists have one each. The Student List has not yet said who will lead its parliamentary group. The deadline for forming a new government is 90 days from the constitution of parliament.