MPs or student assemblies: Who will make the key decisions?

Student plenums, or assemblies, have played a central role in shaping the Student List, which secured an absolute majority of 140 seats in the Serbian Parliament. The question now is whether their role ends there.

Will decision-making authority pass to MPs, the Speaker of Parliament, the prime minister, ministers and other officials selected through this form of direct democracy, or will student assemblies continue to have a say in every major decision?

"We are not a political party"

Former National Bank of Serbia Governor Dejan Šoškić, who is considered a leading candidate for prime minister, has said that future MPs from the Student List will carry out their duties in accordance with the Constitution and the law, while the government will exercise its own powers.

"There is a programme, and commitments have been signed. MPs will act in accordance with those policy commitments, independently and in line with the Constitution and the law, just like any other parliament. The same applies to the government.

"If you're asking how specific proposals are developed, we are in constant communication with the students. The students also understand that this group of elected representatives from the Student List, once they enter Parliament, will legally hold their own mandates and make decisions independently.

"We will therefore enter a normal political process, as is the case in European countries and other well-organised democracies around the world, where MPs perform their duties in accordance with the Constitution and the law. The government will also have its own powers," Šoškić explained on Sunday's edition of the television programme "Utisak nedelje" ("Impression of the Week").

Mirjana Nikolić, Rector of the University of Arts and also a candidate on the Student List, offered a somewhat different explanation in comments to the FoNet news agency.

Discussing how future appointments would be decided, she said the movement was currently awaiting decisions from student bodies, which were working to reach a common position across university centres throughout Serbia.

She added that she assumed students were also communicating directly with individual professors and expected that the candidates themselves would eventually have an opportunity to express their views on the proposals.

Nikolić stressed that representatives of the Student List would not challenge decisions made by student bodies, but said it was equally important that those nominated agreed to stand as candidates and take on the relevant positions.

"We are not a political party where students can simply say, 'You must do this'," Nikolić said.

Zoran Stojiljković, a retired professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences and an incoming MP from the Student List, told Kurir that the role of student assemblies would not end once candidates had been selected for particular positions. Coordination, he said, would continue.

"The situation is specific because legitimacy comes from the fact that someone was placed on the Student List and entrusted with using their authority and integrity to credibly pursue the programme of the student and civic movement.

"Nobody entered Parliament because of their personal popularity. They were elected because they enjoyed the confidence of student assemblies, above all, since those assemblies make decisions through a fairly complex and democratic procedure.

"There is that authority, that expression of confidence in someone to represent the movement in political institutions, and there is also a fairly clear and detailed programme defining their responsibilities and priorities.

"Operational autonomy will increase as institutions begin to function. In practice, based on the shared programme and continued coordination, the process will gradually move towards greater independence for those responsible for specific areas of work, who will also be accountable for their decisions," Stojiljković explained.

Two opposing views

Predrag Lacmanović, executive director of the Faktor Plus polling agency, told Kurir that two opposing views appear to exist within the student movement on this issue.

"Student plenums and citizens' assemblies are informal bodies that are not recognised by law. They cannot make decisions about the work of Parliament or exercise authority over MPs, ministers or their decisions.

"We have never had a situation like this before, and in that respect Šoškić is absolutely right.

"The student organisation, its plenums and assemblies, carried the entire struggle against the previous government, and their role should end there.

"The students and their assemblies have said they selected the most qualified people and stand behind them. Now those people need to justify the confidence placed in them, both by those who nominated them and by those who voted for them.

"The question is whether the student organisation, through its assemblies, has developed a taste for power and wants to remain active in political life by scrutinising every move or at least certain crucial decisions.

"We do not really know what kind of agreement or understanding exists between the assemblies and the people on the electoral list.

"I assume there are differences of opinion among assembly members. Some probably lean towards continued involvement, while others, who have plans for their lives outside politics, may feel they have completed their task and that this is where their involvement should end.

"I believe there are people both for and against what Šoškić has proposed, for example," Lacmanović concluded.