Serbian gov't proposes dissolution of parliament, calling of elections

BELGRADE - The Serbian government on Monday proposed to the president of the Republic of Serbia to dissolve the national parliament and call parliamentary elections.

In the proposal, the government said holding new parliamentary elections in the present circumstances would ensure a higher level of democracy, a reduction of tensions emerging between opposing factions in society and a rejection of exclusivity and hate speech and affirm the right to free expression of opinions and positions on certain political, economic and other matters, including further affirmation of European values, the Serbian government said in a statement.

The proposal also said demands to call new, early parliamentary elections had appeared recently in a part of the public and that a part of opposition parties had submitted such a demand to the president on September 11.

Primarily on the grounds of that demand, the government took the position that carrying out the election process as one of the fundamental postulates of democratic society would be a good opportunity to reassess the political power of the arguments, the efficiency to date and the plans of all factors on the political scene and enable citizens to freely express their will as to the direction the Republic of Serbia needs to be heading in.

Also, the cabinet members adopted a decision to dissolve the City of Belgrade Assembly and establish an interim authority in the city, and the same decisions were adopted for 64 other cities and self-government units across Serbia.