Serbian Parliament Holds Session, Speaker May Be Elected on Aug. 10

Serbian Parliament (Beta/Petar Vujanic)

Serbia's National Assembly on Aug. 3 completed work after MPs were sworn in and the new parliament convened.

Presiding over the session as the oldest MP, Smilja Tisma said that the MPs were now obliged to form caucuses and then submit that decision, along with the names of the whips and their deputies, at the registry office.

The date on which the session will resume, when the parliament speaker is to be elected, will be set at a later time. Some MPs told reporters off the record that the date was expected to be Aug. 10.

The new MPs first swore an oath, thereby constituting the 12th convocation of the Assembly of Serbia. In the June 21 regular general election, the ticket called Aleksandar Vucic - For Our Children won the most seats - 188. The Socialist Party of Serbia will have 32 MPs, while Aleksandar Sapic's Serbian Patriotic Alliance will debut in the parliament with 11 MPs. Four parties representing national minorities have also won seats in the Assembly.

The biggest opposition parties boycotted the general election and consider this parliamentary makeup illegitimate.