The Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Predrag Markovic, today met political parties’ representatives from Leskovac asking for the dismissal of the chairman of the municipal assembly, Gojko Velickovic. As the Nis Municipal Electoral Commission had declared itself without authority in the matter, the Chairman of the National Assembly and the appropriate ministry were asked for their opinion.

The meeting was attended by the Deputy Minister for State Administration and Local Self-government, Vesna Ilic-Prelic, and the secretary of the Ministry, Djordje Cveticanin. The meeting resulted in a formal letter sent by the Ministry to the Municipal Electoral Commission, informing it of the following:

- the Municipal Electoral Commission was authorised to dismiss the chairman of the municipal assembly;
- that the Local Self-government Act applied in cases of dismissing chairpersons of municipal assemblies;
- that the Ministry recommended posing the following question in a poll: “Are you for or against the dismissal of the chairman of the municipal assembly, Gojko Velickovic?”

Representatives of 11 political parties had collected 18,165 signatures in support of the dismissal initiative. According to the Local Elections Act, signatures of 10% of voters (in this case, 12,800) were needed for the Municipal Electoral Commission, the only body with authority in the matter, to accept the initiative.

Mr Markovic informed party representatives that he was authorised to call new elections for the chairman of the municipal assembly as soon as the dismissal procedure was complete.