New parliament to hold inaugural session

New parliament to hold inaugural session

BELGRADE -- Lawmakers of the new parliamentary convocation gathered on Wednesday for the first time for the inaugural session of the National Assembly of Serbia.

The mandates of the new MPs will be verified today.

The inaugural session was scheduled Nebojša Stefanović, who served as parliament's speaker until now, and will begin in the afternoon, at 16:00 CET.

The Serbian parliament is constituted by confirming the mandates of two-thirds of the new people's deputies, which will also mark the official end of the the mandate of the previous convocation.

In addition to this, the first session will elect new speaker and his or her deputies, and appoint parliament's secretary general.

Members of working bodies and members of permanent delegations to international parliamentary institutions will also be appointed.

The Serb Progressive Party (SNS) and its pre-election coalition have 158 seats in Serbia's 250-seat parliament, followed by the SPS-PUPS-JS coalition (44), and those gathered around the Democratic Party (DS) (19), and the New Democratic Party (NDS) (18).

The the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM) has six, the SDA of Sandžak three, and Party for Democratic Action two MPs.