Slavica Djukic Dejanovic elected minister of education

BELGRADE - The Serbian parliament elected Slavica Djukic Dejanovic as new minister of education on Tuesday.

One hundred and forty-nine MPs voted in favour, 40 voted against and five abstained.

Djukic Dejanovic took the oath of office after the vote.

Her predecessor Branko Ruzic resigned on May 7 following a deadly mass shooting in a primary school in downtown Belgrade, after which minister without portfolio Djordje Milicevic took over as acting minister of education.

Djukic Dejanovic, 72, is a doctor of medicine who has specialised in neuropsychiatry.

She is a seven-time MP in the Serbian parliament and the federal parliaments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the state union of Serbia and Montenegro.

She was Serbian parliament speaker from 2008 to 2012 and also served as health minister from 2012 to 2014 and as minister without portfolio for demographics and population policy from August 2016 to October 2016.