New election talks due today

The coalition leaders, Boris Tadic, Vojislav Kostunica and Mladjan Dinkic will meet today to discuss election timeframes. However, as the prime minister and Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) leader Kostunica said in a statement to Beta, the Constitutional Affairs Parliamentary Committee first have to uphold the position that calling elections requires the prior adoption of all laws envisaged by the Constitution. New election talks due today “I agree with President Tadic that the Constitution must be respected when calling elections,“ said the prime minister in the statement. According to him, the Committee recently passed a ruling stipulating that elections for the post of Belgrade mayor could not be called until all the relevant laws had been enacted. DSS MP Milos Aligrudic told B92 that the Committee was due to clear up any misinterpretations that had appeared in the media recently concerning whether or not elections had to be called and held by the end of the year. “As far as these misunderstandings are concerned, and these statements, and Tadic’s too where he swears to uphold Constitutional Law – that’s all fine by us. But, let’s just see then if calling elections is linked to passing this set of laws that are, incidentally, as far as the DSS are concerned, ready to pass from governmental to parliamentary procedure as soon as possible,“ said Aligrudic. The DSS MP said that the Committee’s request was not a sign of provocation to the Democratic Party (DS). “I don’t think there’s any kind of provocation going on here. We’re reaching a situation where we have to think a moment, given the other side’s request for fixing the date, be that December 9 or six or seven days late. We’re getting the impression that someone wants these elections called without first enacting this set of laws,“ he added. Aligrudic hoped the president would meet them halfway and call a session of the Committee, though he said that, if Parliamentary Speaker Oliver Dulic failed to be cooperative, it was not out of the question that a third of Committee deputies could call for the session. The MP did not however wish to divulge which other parties the DSS might seek support from in order to secure the one-third of votes required for a session to be called. B92 was unable to get in touch with Dulic to ask him whether he was prepared to compromise. To B92’s knowledge, the DS presidency yesterday took the decision to stand by their original demands for elections to be held in December, and a reply from the other coalition leaders is expected in the next few days.

New election talks due today

“I agree with President Tadić that the Constitution must be respected when calling elections,“ said the prime minister in the statement.

According to him, the Committee recently passed a ruling stipulating that elections for the post of Belgrade mayor could not be called until all the relevant laws had been enacted.

DSS MP Miloš Aligrudić told B92 that the Committee was due to clear up any misinterpretations that had appeared in the media recently concerning whether or not elections had to be called and held by the end of the year.

“As far as these misunderstandings are concerned, and these statements, and Tadić’s too where he swears to uphold Constitutional Law – that’s all fine by us. But, let’s just see then if calling elections is linked to passing this set of laws that are, incidentally, as far as the DSS are concerned, ready to pass from governmental to parliamentary procedure as soon as possible,“ said Aligrudić.

The DSS MP said that the Committee’s request was not a sign of provocation to the Democratic Party (DS). “I don’t think there’s any kind of provocation going on here. We’re reaching a situation where we have to think a moment, given the other side’s request for fixing the date, be that December 9 or six or seven days late. We’re getting the impression that someone wants these elections called without first enacting this set of laws,“ he added.

Aligrudić hoped the president would meet them halfway and call a session of the Committee, though he said that, if Parliamentary Speaker Oliver Dulić failed to be cooperative, it was not out of the question that a third of Committee deputies could call for the session. The MP did not however wish to divulge which other parties the DSS might seek support from in order to secure the one-third of votes required for a session to be called.

B92 was unable to get in touch with Dulić to ask him whether he was prepared to compromise. To B92’s knowledge, the DS presidency yesterday took the decision to stand by their original demands for elections to be held in December, and a reply from the other coalition leaders is expected in the next few days.