Popovic: No constitutional obstacles to electing Brnabic parliament speaker

BELGRADE - Serbian Justice Minister Maja Popovic dismissed on Monday as untrue and malicious claims that there are constitutional obstacles to Ana Brnabic's candidacy for, and election as, new parliament speaker.

Popovic was responding to law professor Tanasije Marinkovic, who has said that Brnabic, as PM, could not be an MP at the same time, let alone parliament speaker, and that she should immediately resign as MP.

Popovic said such a "perverse" interpretation of the law jeopardised the constitutionally guaranteed right of all eligible Serbian citizens to be elected MPs.

"Consciously or not, Professor Marinkovic is neglecting the fact that the term of the Government of Serbia, which is currently headed by Ana Brnabic, has ended following the November 1, 2023 dissolution of the parliament, as prescribed by Article 128 of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, and that the government has since been in the so-called caretaker capacity - in which it can only conduct affairs defined by law, as prescribed by Article 128, Paragraph 4 of the Constitution - and will remain so until the election of a new government," Popovic said in a statement released by the Ministry of Justice.

Undeniably, a member of a government that is in its regular, full capacity cannot be an MP at the same time, which is not the case with Brnabic, who is heading a government whose term has ended, Popovic said.