Ahead of the start of work of the new convocation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, elected in the parliamentary elections in April 2022, the research team of the Foundation for Liberal Practical Politics prepared a set of recommendations for improving the work of the highest legislative body, primarily regarding its oversight role.
On this occasion, we tried not to repeat the recommendations that have been given for several years now by relevant civil society organizations dealing with this topic, but to offer different solutions that have so far been less mentioned in public. In many cases, these involve adopting successful examples from certain countries with developed and stable democracies.
- Recommendations for strengthening the integrity and independence of members of parliament
- Adoption of a new Law on the Election of Members of Parliament and the introduction of a proportional electoral system with direct voting for candidates in electoral units and single-member electoral districts, modeled on the system that exists in Slovenia
- Abolition of paragraph 2 of Article 102 of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, according to which “a member of parliament is free, under conditions determined by law, to irrevocably place his mandate at the disposal of the political party at whose proposal he was elected as a member of parliament,” thereby preventing the use of the practice of “blank resignations” in the future
- Recommendations for ensuring the equal position of the government and the opposition in parliament
- Introduction of a presidency as a collective body for leading the National Assembly. Rotation of representatives of 4 lists in the position of presiding officer (2 strongest ruling and 2 strongest opposition)
- Rotation in the position of chairman of parliamentary committees according to the same principle
- Recommendations for more effective oversight of the work of the executive branch
- Introduction of mandatory parliamentary questions for the Prime Minister at a special time slot twice a month, as already exists in the United Kingdom (PM Questions)
- In addition, introduction of another time slot for parliamentary questions twice a month, where the presence of ministers will be mandatory upon the opposition’s request
- Limiting the time for giving answers for both ministers and the prime minister to 5 minutes
- Adoption of a new Law on the Election of the President of the Republic and the introduction of a parliamentary system of government. The President would be elected in the National Assembly by a qualified majority of votes, modeled on the mechanism that exists today in Italy.
- Recommendations for preventing the accumulation of functions
- Introduction of a provision according to which a member of parliament cannot simultaneously be the president or deputy president of the assembly of a local self-government unit