Law professor explains why Brnabic cannot be candidate for speaker

“We could be faced with a potential constitutional crisis,” stressed Marinkovic.

The professor told N1’s Studio Live show that Brnabic is the reason for the postponement of the Serbian Parliament constitutive session that had been scheduled to resume on Monday, March 11.

According to the information posted on the Serbian Parliament’s website, the proposal to elect Prime Minister Ana Brnabic has entered the parliamentary procedure.

“They realized that there is a constitutional obstacle for this person to be a candidate,” said Marinkovic.

He explained that Article 126 of the Serbian Constitution stipulates that a Government member cannot at the same time be an MP.

“The Prime Minister cannot be an MP at the same time, let alone the Parliament speaker. She would have to immediately resign as MP,” said Marinkovic.

However, she cannot be a candidate anyway, or be elected, he added.

“If she resigns, she still remains in that post until a new Prime Minister is elected. These are the rules here. If she does not resign as MP, and is elected, that will not only be a violation of the Constitution, but also a potential constitutional crisis,” he stressed.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government rebutted Marinkovic’s claims, saying that the mentioned constitutional provision refers to the Government, that is, members of the Government, whose term of office is ongoing.

“It does not refer to the Government (or members of the Government) whose term of office has expired,” said the Ministry, explaining Professor Marinkovic’s statement that a member of the Government whose term of office has expired (in this case the Prime Minister) cannot be elected MP (and, therefore, also Parliament speaker).

Interpreting Article 128, para 1 of the Serbian Constitution, the Ministry said that the Government’s term of office lasts until the expiry of the term of office of the National Parliament that had elected it and, in line with Article 128, para 3 of the Constitution, the term of office of a Government shall terminate before the period of time for which it has been elected, by dissolution of the National Parliament (and in other cases envisaged by the Constitution).

It noted that the members of the Serbian Parliament were elected on April 3, 2022 and that the Parliament was dissolved on November 1, 2023, adding that the Government’s term of office and that of its members was also terminated on the same day.

Serbian Justice Minister Maja Popovic described Marinkovic’s statements as untrue and completely malicious.