Vojvodina gets reshuffled provincial government

Vojvodina gets reshuffled provincial government

NOVI SAD -- Members of the Assembly of Vojvodina adopted with a majority of votes on Monday a motion to reshuffle the government of Serbia's northern province.

The motion had been tabled by Vojvodina Prime Minister Bojan Pajtić, president of the Democratic Party (DS), which leads the ruling coalition.

Presenting the motion to reshuffle the government, Pajtić said that its main goals will be to adopt the laws on the province's authority and funding and improve the social status of the residents of the province.

Pajtić listed the government's successes in the past period and severely criticized the central government and the lack of dialogue between the two governments.

The new Vojvodina deputy prime minister is Secretary for the Economy, Labor, Employment and Gender Equality Miroslav Vasin (DS).

League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV) Branislav Bogaroski will be the new provincial secretary for agriculture, Vladimir Pavlov - until recently a member of Boris Tadić's Social Democratic Party - is the new secretary for science and technological development, with Nenad Stanković, a non-partisan figure, elected as provincial secretary for energy at the proposal of LSV.

Sixty-three assembly members voted in favor, while 36 opposition assembly members voted against, and six assembly members of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM), a member of the ruling coalition, took no part in the vote.

Speaking to reporters after the session, Prime Minister Pajtić said that, contrary to allegations by the opposition, the vote has confirmed that the Vojvodina government has majority support in the provincial assembly.

The SVM...